ANTI-DRUG PROGRAMS MUST BE MAINTAINED

There's mixed news on the drug front. A survey of drug use among 45,200
eighth, 10th and 12th grade students at 435 schools found that use of some
drugs has declined. Among eighth-graders, marijuana and alcohol use are
both dropping.

Overall, teens have begun to spurn traditional drugs such as crack cocaine
and LSD. Unfortunately, there's been no such decline in the use of
amphetamines, barbiturates, tranquilizers, hallucinogens other than LSD,
non-heroin opiates and alcohol.

Within the last two years, both crack and powder cocaine use fell among
students in all three grades. Besides cocaine, school-age kids have sharply
curtailed intake of inhalants, LSD crystal methamphetamine or "ice" and
rohypnol from peak levels in the mid-1990s, according to monitoring the
future, a study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Teens seem to be getting the message that these drugs, with their unknown
chemical compounds, can be deadly or may irreversibly alter normal bodily
functions. There are also fewer teens using tobacco.

Though not as many eighth-graders are smoking marijuana, 10th- and
12th-graders continue to use pot at nearly the same levels as before.
Thirty-two percent of sophomores and 37 percent of seniors admitted
marijuana use in the prior 12-month period.

Students in all three grades revealed an increase in the use of "ecstasy,"
the street name for methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a synthetic compound
with hallucinogenic and stimulant properties.

The study showed an overall drop in drug and alcohol use by eighth-graders,
which suggests anti-drug programs begun in late elementary grades are
having an effect. If we reach children in time with powerful reasons to
abstain, their behavior may well carry over into high school.