MARIJUANA USE GROWING AMONG YOUTH, REPORT SAYS

The rate of marijuana use among young people in trouble with the law
more than doubled in the 1990s, rising to what authors of a report
released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice called an
``epidemic.''

The study, which tracked arrests of 18- to 20-year-olds in 23 U.S.
cities including San Jose, also found that use of the harder drugs
heroin and cocaine fell over that time, casting doubt on the argument
that pot is a ``gateway drug'' that leads to more serious substances.

The report is almost as interesting for what it doesn't show.

The rates of pot use among youthful arrestees in California and the
West tend to be lower than the 62 percent found nationally in 1999,
the most recent year covered in the study. But one of the study's
researchers said Friday that arrestees in the West may favor
methamphetamine, which is not commonly found elsewhere in the
country. The study didn't track use of meth.

It also didn't track use of ``ecstasy,'' a synthetic hallucinogen
that has emerged in the past five years as an extremely popular drug
among teens and young adults.

Still, the levels of marijuana use are alarming, and the study's
authors and other observers point to a growing acceptance of pot use
in popular culture as a major reason.

``The pattern seems to be indigenous to today's youth,'' said Andrew
Golub, a senior researcher at New York-based National Development
Research Institute, one of the report's authors. ``In other words,
the habit was not passed down to them. They chose it.''

Golub said that the prevalence of pot use among today's young adults
can be tied to the presence of the drug in the hip-hop culture,
including lyrics, videos and T-shirts, as well as mainstream
television shows and movies.

For instance, Golub points to the popular Fox sitcom ``That 70s
Show,'' which depicts characters partaking in a supposedly
pot-induced conversation, although the drug itself is never shown.

The prevalence of pot use isn't news to teens here.

``I see a lot of my friends do it. You don't have to look very hard
to see people using it,'' said Douglas Buell, 17, a senior at Mount
Pleasant High School in San Jose. ``Everybody that age does it. You
can get it very easily.''

And the study's results don't surprise those whose job it is to curb
drug use among young people.

``We're seeing kids in eighth or ninth grade who are way beyond
prevention treatments,'' said Dan Lloyd, interim director of the
Children, Family and Community Services Division of the Department of
Alcohol and Drug Services of Santa Clara County. ``Young people are
looking at harder drugs and seeing the dangers, then gravitating to
drugs that they perceive cause less harm, like marijuana. And they
using their peers as a standard.''

Overall, marijuana use among youthful arrestees increased steadily
from 25 percent in 1991 to 62 percent in 1999, according to the
study, prepared by the National Institute of Justice and the
Substance Abuse Policy Research Program.

According to the study, Midwestern cities including Chicago, Detroit
and Cleveland showed the highest rates in pot use in the late 1990s.
In West Coast cities including Los Angeles, San Diego and Portland,
rates were below the national average and were either flat or
increasing slightly.

In San Jose, the rate of marijuana use among young arrestees was
below the national average. About 56 percent of those arrested here
in 1999 tested positive through urinalysis, and the study's authors
question whether that figure may be a one-year statistical blip. It
followed four years where the rate hovered just above or below 40
percent.

Golub acknowledged that here, methamphetamine and ecstasy may be the
real drugs of choice.

Kids agree.

``People do other drugs now,'' said Lorena Ornelas, a 16-year-old
senior from Underhill High School in San Jose. ``It's all about E and
rave parties.''

Karyn Sinunu, assistant district attorney for Santa Clara County,
said that adults give young people mixed messages about pot use,
pointing to voter passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, the
controversial law that authorizes use of marijuana for medicinal
purposes.

With Proposition 215, ``came the acceptance that marijuana has some
value,'' said Sinunu. ``Kids tend to say `Hey, it's no big deal. You
don't get DUIs or get in fights, you just get mellow.' ''

As as for the study's finding that pot likely isn't the gateway drug
it was once thought to be, Sinunu said young people already have
figured that out.

``Kids no longer believe that someone who smokes a joint today will
be using heroin at the end of the week,'' she said. ``Nobody believes
in `Reefer Madness' anymore.''