BILLBOARDS AIM TO SNUFF TEEN USE OF MARIJUANA

About 80 billboards, including 20 in San Antonio, have started going
up across Texas to discourage marijuana use after a recent survey
found a drop in the number of teen-agers who view the illegal hemp as
dangerous.

"What we're hoping is that it will generate questions or discussions
between parents and children, so they can discuss real dangers of
marijuana," said Kirk Cole, public information officer with the Texas
Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free Texas, a nonprofit group funded by the
commission, began putting up the billboards earlier this month in 10
urban areas, including San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Laredo and
the Rio Grande Valley. About 60 of the billboards were used in 1999 in
Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Houston and Laredo.

In the commission's recent survey of 127,380 Texas students in grades
7 to 12, 13.7 percent said they had used marijuana in the past month,
compared with 15.2 percent in 1998. Nearly one-third said they had
used the drug at least once.

Commission officials were concerned by survey results that showed 62
percent of students believed marijuana was dangerous compared to 76
percent who considered the drug dangerous in 1992.

"We're very pleased that the agency's most recent school survey shows
a decline in marijuana use," Jay Kimbrough, the commission's executive
director, said in a news release. "However, we remain concerned by the
number of young people who don't think marijuana is a dangerous
substance. We hope this media campaign encourages kids and their
parents to talk about the harmful effects of this drug."

Amid San Antonio's revolving door of fad drugs such as speed and
ecstasy, marijuana is a regular staple -- second only to alcohol -- of
teen-age drug users.

"Alcohol is No. 1. It's more accessible and easiest to get. Then comes
marijuana," said Sharon Shook, executive director of the San Antonio
Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

A study by the commission of local police reports from 1993-99 found
the percentage of juveniles who tested positive for marijuana after
being arrested in San Antonio rose from 24 percent to 53 percent among
males and from 10 percent to 24 percent among females.

When a 1998 survey asked local students if they ever had used
marijuana, 43 percent in the Northside School District said yes. So
did 40 percent of students in the Judson and Harlandale districts. The
percentage reporting use in the previous month ranged from 18 percent
in Judson to 20 percent in Northside and 23 percent in Harlandale.

Marijuana is known to contain more carcinogens than tobacco and to
harm respiratory, reproductive and immune systems, according to the
commission. It is a psychologically addictive drug that causes
lethargy and problems with mental concentration and short-term memory.

Advertising space was donated for the billboards, which depict a
hand-written yellow note on the left side saying, in tongue-in-cheek
style, "We asked some pot smokers to come up with something clever for
this billboard." The rest of the billboard is blank.

Cole said the goal of the ad is to disprove a perception that
marijuana, though viewed as less harmful than other drugs, is not
dangerous, especially for teen-agers.

"We wanted to be sure we address that issue" with the billboard
campaign, he said.