YOUTH DRUG USE FALLS, BUT NEW WOES EMERGE

Survey Finds That More Hoosier Students Are Trying 'Club Drugs' As They
Reach Late Teens.

While most illicit drug use by Indiana youths continued to decline, a 2002
statewide student survey 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, reports 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,
and 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
older adolescents nearing college age.

Overall, Bailey says, the survey's results show 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 annual use of marijuana, compared with 36.4 percent last year.

Although 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 decrease 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.

An encouraging sign was decreases in tobacco use among nearly all grades,
although the state is 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, we can control illicit drug
usage in the state."