CITY'S YOUTHS PREFER POT

69 Percent Of Those Arrested Prefer Pot
Study: Most Tested Positive For Drug When Arrested

Nearly seven out of every 10 young adults arrested in Birmingham tested
positive for marijuana use, a trend experts describe as an epidemic level.

A majority of the 18to 20-year-olds tested between 1996 and 1999 as part of
a national study chose to smoke pot rather than use crack cocaine or heroin.

"If there's a silver lining, that is it," said the study's author, Andrew
Golub, a senior researcher at the New York-based National Development and
Research Institute. "They're not damaging themselves physically or socially
as much as their predecessors.

"Both in Birmingham and Atlanta, youths born since 1970 are dramatically
less likely to ever use crack cocaine than their predecessors born between
1955 and 1969, what we call the crack generation among arrestees," Golub
said. "They report having seen the devastation of crack and heroin on older
members of their community and they're not going there."

The study, published by the National Institute of Justice and released
Friday, shows marijuana use among arrested teens nationwide increased
steadily from 25 percent in 1991 to 57 percent in 1996 and peaked at 60
percent by 1999.

Birmingham was among 23 U.S. cities taking part in the Arrestee Drug Abuse
Monitoring program. Birmingham's data were collected through UAB's
Substance Abuse Program and, more specifically Treatment Alternatives for
Street Crime.

Foster Cook, director of TASC, said that Birmingham's numbers reflect the
availability of marijuana, which is making a comeback in popularity and is
easier to find on the street. "Where kids have choices, I think they're
choosing alcohol and marijuana rather than harder drugs," he said.

The study's authors said it is important to remember that the research
focused on teens in trouble with the law, not the general population, which
saw a less significant rise in the use of marijuana. In this area, those
tested were inmates at the Birmingham and Jefferson County jails.

Most of the cities reported marijuana use had leveled by the mid-1990s, but
Birmingham and Atlanta were among the minority still seeing an expansion.

Marijuana use among all adults who were arrested in Birmingham dropped from
33 percent in 1988 to 12 percent by 1990. The rate among teens, however,
rose from 15 percent in 1990 to 64 percent in 1996. There was a modest
decline to 57 percent in 1998 but then a jump to 69 percent in 1999.

"In 1990, there was virtually almost no marijuana use among the arrestees,"
Golub said. "Both Birmingham and Atlanta experienced a rapid and almost
saturating rise."

It's a dramatic reversal, Golub said, from just a decade ago.

"Youth drug use underwent a massive change during the 1990s. Crack use was
rampant and marijuana use was virtually nonexistent," Golub said.

Golub said he believes the teens are making deliberate, and admirable,
decisions about their choice of drugs by choosing the lesser of the illicit
evils available to them.

"These kids are reaching out to achieve a better lifestyle," he said. "This
is an opportune moment to focus on the other challenges facing the
inner-city youths, mainly poverty."