DRUG USE DROPS AMONG CALIFORNIA TEENS, REPORT FINDS

SACRAMENTO -- Drug use among California teens is down for the first time in
a decade, according to a report released yesterday by the state Attorney
General's Office.

But there's some bad news in the study: Heroin use among 11th graders
increased while the numbers of students with excessive alcohol and drug
habits stayed about the same.

The 8th biennial California Student Survey questioned 12,777 students in
grades 7, 9 and 11 and found that overall drug use was down, mostly due to
decreased use of marijuana and inhalants

Twenty percent of the 7th graders, 26 percent of the 9th graders and 39
percent of the 11th graders reported using an illegal drug at least once in
the previous six months.

That represented a drop in drug use in all three grades from a survey in
1997-98.

Alcohol use dropped for the first time in 15 years. Thirty-five percent of
7th graders, 52 percent of 9th graders and 66 percent of 11th graders
reported drinking alcohol in the previous six months.

Those figures represented at least a 10 percent drop in all three grades.

Marijuana use dropped by more than 12 percent among 9th graders; only 20
percent reported using the drug in the last six months, according to the
report. Among high school juniors marijuana use dropped 7 percent, down
from 35 percent last year.