TEENS: POT EASIER BUY THAN CIGARETTES, BEER

WASHINGTON -- Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or
beer -- one in three say they can find it in a matter of hours -- but only
25 percent admit trying it, a national survey found.

When the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse polled 1,000
teens last winter, 27 percent said they could buy marijuana in an hour or
less; another 8 percent said it would take a few hours. But for the first
time since the study began in 1996, teenagers said it was easier to buy
marijuana than cigarettes or beer.

The annual survey didn't specify whether drugs are easy or difficult to buy
at school, but 63 percent of students said their schools are "drug-free,"
nearly double the number who said the same in 1998. It's the highest
percentage since 1996.

Although many have criticized nationwide anti-drug programs such as
D.A.R.E., educators said years of using such programs appear to be paying off.

"I think we're starting to see the fruition of some of those programs,"
said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of
Secondary School Principals.

More than half of students said they don't drink alcohol in a typical week,
and about as many said they have never had a drink.

While one in four pupils said at least one parent smokes cigarettes, 69
percent said they have never smoked.

Joel Willen, principal of Pershing Middle School in Houston, said teachers
and administrators are seeing less drug activity at school. "I think the
kids are not bringing whatever it is they're doing, if they're doing it, to
school," he said.

Pershing's drug-prevention programs are paired with a get-tough policy on
drugs that includes twice-yearly, random locker and backpack searches by
drug-sniffing dogs, Willen said. Students caught using or selling drugs can
be sent to an alternative school or even expelled.

The survey also found that:

· 8 percent of students believe there's a teacher at their school who uses
illegal drugs.

· 25 percent said they have seen illegal drugs being sold at school.

· 24 percent said drugs are "the most important problem facing people (of
their) age," highest among several problems such as crime, peer pressure,
sexuality and the environment