MARIJUANA STUDY: 'JUST SAY NO' JUST HASN'T WORKED

Despite a decade of "Just Say No'' messages, use of marijuana and
other illegal drugs rose more than 20 percent on college campuses in
the 1990s, with one in eight students saying they're regular pot
smokers, Harvard researchers said yesterday.

While college drug use leveled off the past two years, researchers
said it is still not yet on the decline and said efforts must be stepped up.

``Although rates of drug use stabilized at the end of the decade, no
significant decreases have yet been observed,'' said Henry Wechsler of
the Harvard School of Public Health.

The survey of 14,000 college students nationwide saw the use of
marijuana in the prior 30-day period increased from 12.9 percent in
1993 to 15.6 percent in 1997, a rise of about 22 percent.

``The increase occurred across all types of colleges and all types of
students,'' Wechsler said. ``It is indeed a national trend.''

Marijuana use was highest at colleges in the Northeast and lowest in
Southern colleges. Although the increase was reported among all races
and types of students, the study found that marijuana users are
typically single, white, and spend more time socializing and less time
studying.

Some college students interviewed in Boston yesterday were not
surprised by the findings.

``I wouldn't say it's on the rise, but it's been steady from what I've
seen,'' said Josh, a 19-year-old sophomore at Boston University, who
asked that his last name not be used. ``If anything, it seems like
everyone is doing ecstasy.''

Wechsler was unable to explain the increase, except that it mirrors
trends reported among the same students when they were in high and
middle school.

Despite the overall rise over the six-year study period, usage seems
to have peaked.

From 1997 to 1999, the marijuana usage rate stayed nearly level,
growing just one-tenth of 1 percent, to 15.7 percent.

Again, Wechsler could not say why usage appears to have leveled off in
recent years, but said it could be that fewer students are using drugs
in high schools and middle schools.

Between 1997 and 1999, rates of marijuana use among secondary school
students declined for the first time in the 1990s, mainly among the
older students.

Usage remains much lower than during the late 1960s and 1970s, when
marijuana use among students hit a high of 37 percent in 1978, he said.

``It is certainly half as much as it was at the height in the very
late '70s,'' he said.

Marijuana use is also much lower than alcohol use on
campus.

Wechsler's earlier studies showed that 44 percent of college students
binge-drink, or drink to dangerous levels.

``Beer is certainly the drug of choice,'' he said.

Usage of other drugs increased by a similar figure, 20 percent between
1993 and 1997, but also leveled off to some degree from 1997 to 1999,
going up less than 1 percent during those two years.

Use of other drugs increased from 4.5 percent in 1993 to 5.37 percent
in 1997, an increase of 19 percent. From 1997 to 1999, however, use of
such drugs, including cocaine, barbiturates, amphetamines, heroin and
LSD, grew from 5.37 to 5.41 percent.

Wechsler said the study's findings show that in order to cut down on
the college drug problem, students have to be reached while in middle
or high school.

Some students interviewed at BU yesterday expressed skepticism about
early intervention programs such as DARE, which targets kids as early
as sixth grade.

``There is a big gap between when the DARE program starts and when you
are introduced to drugs,'' said Emma Greer, a sophomore. ``As a
sixth-grade child, you think you're not going to use drugs. But when
you get older and are put in a different situation, things change.''