POT USE DOWN SLIGHTLY

Teens' RX Abuse Up In Some Cases, Analysis Says

NEW YORK - A report released Wednesday by White House drug czar John
Walters found that while U.S. teenagers' use of marijuana is
declining, their abuse of prescription drugs is holding steady or in
some cases increasing. "The drug dealer is us," said Walters, the
national drug policy director. Walters said that many teenagers are
obtaining drugs via the Internet, getting them free from friends or
taking them from someone's medicine cabinet. According to an analysis
of national surveys prepared by Walters' office, 2.1 million teenagers
abused prescription drugs in 2005, the most recent year for which
figures are available.

While their use of marijuana declined from 30.1 percent to 25.8
percent from 2002 to 2006, use of OxyContin, a painkiller, increased
from 2.7 percent to 3.5 percent over the same period. Use of Vicodin,
another painkiller, increased slightly from 6 percent to 6.3 percent.

Teens are also abusing stimulants including Adderall and anti-anxiety
drugs including Xanax because they are readily available and perceived
as safer than street drugs, Walters said.

Walters said adults should keep track of prescription drugs and throw
them out when they expire. "People just aren't aware that they need to
be careful, and so they leave prescriptions in the medicine cabinet
and they don't think anything about it," he said.

The report is based on the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, a survey of 68,308 families, and the 2005 Monitoring the
Future Survey of 50,000 teen students by the University of Michigan.