STATE COLLEGE POT SMOKING TOPS U.S. RATE

Use Of Amphetamines, Heroin, Hallucinogens Up 21%, Study Finds

The percentage of students at three major Colorado campuses who admit to
using marijuana exceeds the national average, in one case more than twice
as much.

According to recently released 1999 data, 34 percent of students at the
University of Colorado said they used marijuana in the month before the
survey, compared with 15.7 percent nationwide. At Colorado State
University, 25 percent said they used pot the month before the study.

Use of other illicit drugs, including heroin, amphetamines and
hallucinogens, increased by nearly 21 percent.

The national study was conducted by Harvard University's School of Public
Health.

The results, which will be published in the November issue of the academic
journal Addiction, found that college students are using more marijuana
than they did in 1993. Between 1993 and 1999 overall marijuana use
increased by 22 percent, according to the study.

"These new findings should be a source of concern for those involved with
the prevention and treatment of illicit drug use among young people," study
author Henry Wechsler said. "Although rates of drug use stabilized at the
end of the decade, no significant decreases have yet been observed."

"The level of acceptance has been rekindled with marijuana," said Scott
Case of CSU's counseling center.

Researchers suggest that the upswing in the use of pot and other illicit
drugs on campus could be linked to a surge in drug use by middle and high
school youths in the early 1990s. That finding was included in a separate
study by the National Institutes of Health.

In the 1960s, drug use often started on campus and trickled down to younger
populations, the authors noted.

Another factor is Colorado's status as a state with the most marijuana
users. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
found that 8.1 percent of the state's residents admitted using the drug
during a 30-day period last year.

The University of Denver didn't participate in the Harvard survey, but
conducted its own poll last spring. In that study, DU found that 45.9
percent of students admitted to using marijuana in the past year, and 26.4
percent in the 30 days before the survey.

"Generally, small liberal arts colleges have higher levels of alcohol use
and drug use," said Robert Granfield, DU associate professor of sociology.

As in all studies, false responses can cloud results even when the
responses are anonymous.

"Fraternities or sororities, under the gun with regard to alcohol policy,
may systematically lie to lower the rates," Granfield said.

But those lying about not doing drugs may balance out those who claim they
did when they didn't, Granfield said.

The perception of rampant pot smoking on campus may also contribute to more
students using the drug, Granfield said. More than 90 percent of DU
undergraduates said they felt that most students use marijuana.

At Colorado School of Mines, officials said they sense that illegal drugs
are becoming more of a problem, said Harold Cheuvront, vice president for
student life and dean of students. Recent figures for the campus were not
available.

Nationally, the number of students who said they used marijuana at some
point in the 30 days before the survey rose from 12.9 percent in 1993 to
15.7 percent in 1999, according to the Harvard study. The number of
students who reported using marijuana in the year before the survey rose
from 24 percent to 26.4 percent.

But not everyone is concerned.

"On the whole, it's not really something that is a perceived epidemic on
campus," said CU student leader John Moore, a 22-year-old senior and
sociology major.

Moore pointed out that today's business and political leaders came of age
in an era when drug use was much more prevalent on campuses.

"I don't know that it had the most adverse effect on those folks."