YOUNGSTERS REPORT LESS DRUG USE

TALLAHASSEE - Use of most drugs by middle and high school students in
Florida has dropped significantly in the past three years, state
Office of Drug Control Director Jim McDonough said Wednesday at a
summit of drug abuse experts.

The most dramatic declines that showed up in a survey of students last
year were in reported use of steroids, heroin and the hallucinogen
LSD, which all dropped by more than 45 percent over a three-year period.

The survey also shows cigarette smoking by middle and high school
students has dropped 38 percent since 2000, and alcohol use is down 10
percent.

The statistics cited by McDonough come from the Florida Youth
Substance Abuse Survey, a self-reporting study of nearly 8,000 Florida
middle and high school students conducted each year.

Among drugs tracked, the biggest percentage drop in the three-year
period was in steroids, with use declining 60 percent. Only 0.4
percent of youngsters report using the performance-enhancing drug, so
a small decrease in numbers translates to a big percentage drop.

Heroin use was cut in half, and methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana
use also dropped.

Youngsters have increased their use of a few drugs.

``One that alarms me the most is children using depressants,''
McDonough said.

The use of depressants such as sleeping pills or antianxiety drugs
such as Valium or Xanax has increased 35 percent since 2000, McDonough
said. The increase could be inflated a bit because the survey added
Xanax to the survey last year.

Recent national surveys also have shown declines in drug use by
youngsters. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services
in 2002 found marijuana use by eighth-graders at its lowest rate since
1994.