DRUG USE ON THE DECLINE AMONG STATE'S TEENAGERS

Drug use among California teens is down for the first time in a decade, according to a report released Monday by the state attorney general's office.

But heroin use among 11th-graders increased, while the numbers of students with excessive alcohol and drug habits stayed about the same.

The eighth biennial California Student Survey questioned 12,777 students in grades 7, 9 and 11 and found that overall drug use was down, mostly because of decreased use of marijuana and inhalants.

Twenty percent of the seventh-graders, 26 percent of the ninth-graders and 39 percent of the 11th-graders reported using an illegal drug at least once in the previous six months.

But heroin use among 11th-graders jumped from 1.7 percent in 1997-98 to 5.2 percent in the latest survey, which covered 1999 and this year.

Law Requires Reporting Of Sexual Assault On Kids

Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill Monday making it a misdemeanor for witnesses to fail to report a violent or sexual assault on a child.

The bill, named after 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson, who was killed in a Nevada casino in 1997, was sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Martinez.

The girl was killed in a casino restroom by Jeremy Strohmeyer, who is serving a life term. Strohmeyer's friend, David Cash, saw the attack but did not notify authorities.