TEENS USE DRUGS MORE IN U.S. THAN IN EUROPE, STUDY FINDS

American teen-agers are far more likely than their European peers to
use marijuana and other illicit drugs, but European teen-agers are
more likely to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, according to a
study of 31 nations.

The study, released Tuesday at a meeting of the World Health
Organization in Stockholm, compared the results of 1999 surveys
answered anonymously by 10th-grade students in the United States and
30 European countries.

Among the European students, 37 percent had smoked at least one
cigarette in the previous 30 days, compared with 26 percent in the
United States. Sixty-one percent of the European 10th-graders had
consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days, compared with 40percent of
U.S. students.

Forty-one percent of 10th-graders in the United States had tried
marijuana, compared with 17percent of those in Europe. And 23percent
of the students in the United States had used other illicit drugs,
compared with 6percent of Europeans.