STUDY FOCUSES ON PARENT MARIJUANA USE

WASHINGTON (AP) - Parents who once used marijuana are about three times as
likely to have children who use the drug, according to a government study.

The study by the Department of Health and Human Services was based on 9,463
surveys of parents and children conducted between 1979 and 1996 by federal
researchers.

"The study points out, once again, the power of parents to help their
children stay healthy and drug free," said Joseph Autry, director of the
department's office on drug abuse.

"It found that parent's attitudes and drug use history - whether a baby
boomer or not - had an effect on their children's likelihood of marijuana
and other drug use."

The study found that children mirror their parents in other ways. Parents
who felt that taking marijuana wasn't risky tended to have kids who felt
the same way.

But researchers also concluded that an increase of drug use in the 1990s
can't be blamed on baby boomer parents. The percentage of parents who had
used drugs doubled from 1979 to 1994, but most of the increase occurred in
the 1980s, according to the study.

"What we found is that you can't blame the increases in drug use in the
mid-1990s on the baby boomer parents," said Mark Weber, a department
spokesman. Researchers are not certain what caused the spike in the 1990s,
he said. Different studies have shown that marijuana use among youth
increased in the 1990s by almost 13 percent.

The new study also found evidence of other factors in marijuana use.
Delinquent behavior, drinking and dropping out of school were all strongly
associated with marijuana use.