TEENS: POT EASIER TO BUY THAN BEER

Survey: Most Call Schools "Drug-Free"

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.

Although many have criticized antidrug programs such as DARE, educators said
years of using such programs seem 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.

He said student drug use has been dropping for the past four or five years
as communities began financing antidrug programs.

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.

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 with drugs can be sent to
an alternative school or 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 sold at school.

* 55 percent said they would report someone they saw using drugs at school.

* 56 percent said they would report someone they saw selling drugs at
school, the highest level since 1996.

* 24 percent said drugs are ``the most important problem facing people your
age,'' highest among several problems such as crime, peer pressure,
sexuality and the environment.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, based at Columbia
University, polls teenagers on drug use and the presence of drugs in
schools. The most recent random telephone survey of students age 12 to 17
was conducted Dec. 27 through Feb. 6 by QEV Analytics. It has a margin of
error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.