TEEN MARIJUANA USE DOWN FOR 3RD YEAR, GROUP FINDS

The use of marijuana by teenagers has dropped for a third straight year, but
a jump in the use of the drug ecstasy raises new concerns, according to the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America's annual report.

The nonprofit group's 13th survey, to be released today, questioned 7,290
students in seventh through 12th grades nationwide. The margin of error was
said to be plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Use of ecstasy has doubled among teenagers since 1995, the survey found. One
in 10 has experimented with the drug, it said.

The report found the proportion of teenagers who have tried ecstasy at least
once had increased from 7 percent to 10 percent over the last year. In
contrast, the 40 percent of teens saying they had tried marijuana was down
from 41 percent a year earlier.

It was the third consecutive drop-off in teenage marijuana use since 1997,
when 44 percent of teens said they had used the drug at least once.

"We appear to be turning a very important corner," said Richard D. Bonnette,
the partnership's president and chief executive officer. "But as we turn one
corner, troubling developments are coming at us from other
directions--specifically with ecstasy."

The survey found that more teenagers were turned off than on by marijuana.
Fifty-four percent felt that smoking pot would make them behave foolishly,
up from 51 percent in 1997. Fewer believe most people will try marijuana: 36
percent now, compared with 41 percent in 1997. And just 21 percent said they
had used marijuana in the last month, down from 24 percent in 1997.

Those numbers are significant because they address attitude changes since
the partnership, along with the White House's Office of National Drug
Control Policy, started a national anti-drug ad campaign in July 1998.

"This study confirms the trends we've seen over the last three years--a
steady decline in the number of teen using drugs," said Barry McCaffrey,
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "This is very good
news."

The study found that the number of teenagers seeing anti-drug advertising on
a daily basis has jumped significantly--from 32 percent in 1998 to 49
percent this year.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a coalition of
communications industry professionals aimed at reducing the demand for
illegal drugs.