S.F. AREA IS NO. 1 FOR REGULAR DRUG USE, STUDY SAYS

Houston and D.C. Among the Lowest

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people
who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in
the USA, a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration found.

Nearly 13% of San Francisco residents reported using some type of
illicit drug, such as marijuana, cocaine or heroin, in the previous
month, according to data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and
Health 2002-05. The national average is 8.1%.

Other areas with drug-abuse rates higher than the national average
included Seattle, 9.6%; Detroit, 9.5%; Philadelphia, 9.1%; and
Boston, 8.5%. Cities with the lowest drug use: Houston, 6.2%; and
Washington, Dallas and Riverside/San Bernardino, Calif., all at 6.5%.

California has decriminalized marijuana for people with health
problems. The state's voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996 to allow
seriously ill state residents to possess and use marijuana with a
doctor's prescription. In San Francisco, police and prosecutors
accept a medical-marijuana identification card as proof that a
resident can possess and use marijuana.

"The fact that state law allows the use of medical marijuana and that
we have a population with a high rate of AIDS that might need to use
medical marijuana may contribute to the rates," says Alice Gleghorn,
deputy director of community behavioral health services in San
Francisco's Department of Public Health. "We do have a cultural
regional norm with regard to medical-marijuana use."

The coastal area north of San Francisco, included in the study as
part of the metropolitan area, is known as a popular marijuana growing spot.

"Where marijuana is very accessible, you're going to get higher use,"
Gleghorn says.

San Francisco focuses its prevention and treatment efforts on heroin,
methamphetamine and cocaine, she says.

Chicago, at 25.7%, and Houston, at 25.6%, have the highest rates of
binge drinking in the country. Nationwide, 22.7% of people reported
binge drinking in the previous month, defined by the study as having
five or more drinks on one occasion. Other areas with rates higher
than the national average are Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, San
Francisco and Phoenix.

Nationwide, about one quarter of the population smokes cigarettes
regularly. Only Detroit significantly exceeded the national average,
with 27.4% of its residents reporting that they smoked cigarettes in
the previous month, the study found. California's biggest cities had
the lowest smoking rates, with 17.9% of people in San Francisco and
Los Angeles and 19.2% in Riverside reporting previous-month use, the
study found.

Beverly Watts Davis, senior adviser for substance-abuse prevention
for SAMHSA, says local prevention coalitions should use the data to
help focus their programs.

"If they can pinpoint what's going on where and why, it really helps
them plan better to know where resources should be allocated," she said.