OFFICIALS REPORT DECLINE IN TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE

State officials touted a seven-year decline in teen drug use this week
while releasing results of the 2007 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey.

Continue to 2nd paragraph The annual survey is intended to measure
youth substance use statewide. This year it included answers from
7,836 sixth-through 12th-graders in 43 of the state's 67 counties.

In a news release accompanying the results, Office of Drug Control
Director Bill Janes described the 2007 survey results as "Great news
for Florida." Janes also said "Illegal drug use continues to decline.
I am concerned about increases in abuse of prescription drugs, but the
overall trends are excellent."

Among the survey's 2007 findings were reductions in youth drug use in
20 out of 21 areas measured.

Survey highlights include:

Cigarette smoking was at 8.5 percent and cigarette use in the past 30
days fell below 10 percent for the first time in the eight-year
history of the survey.

Marijuana use has fallen 24 percent since 2000 and was at 11 percent
for youths reporting use in the past 30 days.

Alcohol was still the most common substance used by youngsters. Its
use rate was at 31.2 percent, down from 34.3 percent in 2000.

Substance abuse declined more among males than females.

Four percent of those polled abused over-the-counter drugs, which
makes them more widely abused that most illicit drugs. Also, girls
were twice as likely as boys to abuse over-the-counter drugs.

Twenty-seven percent of students reported they had been bullied and 23
percent acknowledged they had bullied others. From the results, state
analysts determined that, "While there does not appear to be a clear
link between being bullied and drug use, responses do indicate a link
between substance abuse and students who bully."