YOUTHS' USE OF 'CLUB DRUGS' FOUND TO BE ON RISE

Statewide Survey Of Students Shows Their Emergence

While most illicit drug use by Indiana youths continued to decline, a
statewide student survey earlier this year has confirmed the disturbing
emergence of "club drugs" among some young teens.

Use of these drugs -- including Ecstasy, GHB and Rohypnol -- is minimal
among middle school students, but it grows slightly as students go through
high school, says the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana
University in its 12th annual survey.

"It's very scary to me," said Lisa Hutcheson, project director for the
Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. "We have enough to worry
about with drugs and alcohol."

Nearly 80,000 students in sixth through 12th grades attending 269 schools
were surveyed. The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction funded
the report.

Less than 1 percent of middle school students reported using Rohypnol and
GHB, commonly known as date-rape drugs, at least once, while 1.5 percent of
high school students did so.

Use of Ecstasy, a mild hallucinogenic drug, before eighth grade is minimal;
at least one-time usage by older youths ranges from 3.4 percent of
eighth-graders to 9.5 percent by high school seniors.

However, about 2 percent of students in grades 10-12 reported using Ecstasy
one or more times a month.

IU applied health science professor William Bailey, the center's executive
director, said these findings suggest Ecstasy use is more common among
adolescents nearing college age.

Overall, Bailey said, the survey's results show that the decline in illicit
drug use is not as dramatic as those found five to seven years ago. But the
decreases are still significant.

For example, 33.7 percent of seniors reported using marijuana, compared
with 36.4 percent last year.

Although the use of marijuana and most other illicit drugs has declined
during the past four years, their rates remain substantially higher than
the rates reported in 1992.

While youths appear to be experimenting less with alcohol, Bailey said, the
rates for those who drink regularly did not change. Rates of binge drinking
- -- five or more drinks at any one time -- did not drop either.

Among high school seniors, 31.5 percent reported binge drinking, and 6.5
percent said they drank alcohol daily. Only 1.9 percent of eighth-graders
said they drank daily, but 15.5 percent reported binge drinking.

Tobacco use decreased among nearly all grades, although the state is still
slightly above national averages. About 20 percent of seniors and 11.6
percent of ninth-graders reported daily smoking.

The state's increasing enforcement of laws banning tobacco sales to youths
should continue to reduce smoking and lead to fewer people moving on to
other drugs, said Mark Pogue, the center's education and training coordinator.

"If we can control youth access to tobacco," he said, "we can control
illicit drug usage in the state."