TEENS: DRUG EASIER TO BUY THAN 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 finds.

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 and 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.

While many have criticized nationally used anti-drug programs such as
D.A.R.E., educators said years of using such programs seem to be paying off.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, based at Columbia
University in New York, polls teenagers on drug use and the presence of
drugs in schools.

This year's random telephone survey of students ages 12-17 was conducted
Dec. 27 to Feb. 6 by QEV Analytics.

It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.