PARENTS WARN AGAINST DRUGS, BUT FEEL POWERLESS, POLL SAYS

More parents now say they are talking with their children about illegal
drugs than in previous years, but they also harbor doubts about whether
their warnings do much good, according to a nationwide survey of attitudes.

The survey of 800 parents across the country was released yesterday on the
Internet, and was sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a
coalition of advertising and public relations specialists trying to make
adolescents and children more aware of the risks of drugs.

The full survey is available on the Net at www.drugfreeamerica.org

The annual survey found that 57 percent of the parents sampled in 1999 said
they had spoken with their children about drugs at least four times in the
past year, compared with 44 percent in 1998.

And 64 percent of the parents who raised the issue in 1999 felt they did so
"thoroughly," compared with 52 percent in 1998. More of them said they had
explained how drug use can affect a child's mind and life.

A multimillion-dollar government media campaign to discourage drug use has
urged parents to help by discussing drugs with their children. And recent
surveys like the Monitoring the Future study, which was released in
December by the University of Michigan, report that adolescent drug use,
after rising sharply since 1992, has leveled off; among some younger-age
groups it has even begun to decline.

But the survey released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America also
reported that many parents felt overwhelmed by the drug problem and lacked
confidence in their ability to dissuade their children from experimenting
with drugs, especially marijuana.

Thirty percent of the parents sampled last year said they believed there
was "nothing I can really do to help the drug problem." In 1998, 23 percent
agreed with that statement.

Three-fourths of the parents agreed that "most people will try marijuana
sometimes," compared with 65 percent in 1995, the last year the question
was asked.

And one-third of the parents said marijuana would be "very easy" for their
children to get, compared with 24 percent in 1995.

Nearly one-third of parents sampled last year said they believed that "what
I say will have little influence on whether my child tries marijuana."
Forty percent of the black parents and 43 percent of the Hispanic parents
sampled said they would have little influence on the matter.

The survey, conducted for the partnership by Audits & Surveys Worldwide
Inc., has a margin of sampling error of 4.6 percent.

But Richard D. Bonnette, president of the partnership, said that when
teenagers are asked what risks they associate with drugs, "disappointing
their parents" ranks at the top year after year.

He said children who learned a lot at home about the risks of drugs were up
to 50 percent less likely to try drugs, according to data collected by the
partnership.

"While parents may be overwhelmed by the enormity of the drug problem," Mr.
Bonnette said, "we've got to help them understand that the fight against
drugs isn't one massive battle -- it's thousands of little ones."