SD TEENS' TOBACCO USE DOWN, MARIJUANA UP

PIERRE -- South Dakota school kids are smoking tobacco less and
marijuana more than they did a decade and one-half ago, a state
survey of risky behaviors suggests.

The state Board of Education received the latest Youth Risk Behavior
survey earlier this week in Pierre. The report, based on responses
from South Dakota students in grades nine through 12 at randomly
selected public, private and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, is
done every other year. The most recent survey is based in 2005 data,
and state officials compared the outcome with 1991 responses to
outline trends.

The trend to more pot and less tobacco was among the shifts shown by
that comparison.

The shift in tobacco use was perhaps not as great as anti-smoking
forced would like -- 61 percent of students say they have tried
cigarettes, compared with 69 percent in 1991. But 37 percent said
they had used marijuana in 2005, compared with 21 percent 14 years
ago.

Other statistics of note included:

- - Fewer students, 44 percent, say they've had intercourse than in
1991 (48 percent).

- - Fewer students have been in a vehicle in the past month with a
drinking driver or have driven a vehicle themselves when drinking
alcohol. In 1991, 50 percent of those asked said they'd ridden with a
drinking driver and 28 percent said they'd driven while drinking.
The 2005 data showed 32 percent had ridden with a drinking driver and
17 percent had driven while drinking.

- - About one in three students, 34 percent, reported binge drinking in
the previous month in the most recent survey. In 1991, 41 percent of
those asked said they'd done that.

- - While 19 percent of students in 2005 said they'd considered
suicide, that percentage was down from 30 percent in 1991.

- - And more students are at risk for becoming obese, 14 percent in the
latest survey, compared to 11 percent in 1991.