YOUTH DRUG USE DECLINES SLIGHTLY

The number of Maryland teenagers and preteens who use alcohol, tobacco or
drugs appears to have declined slightly in recent years, according to a
survey released this month by the state.

Yet the use of marijuana and cigarettes among a variety of adolescent age
groups surveyed remains higher than when semiannual statewide surveys began
a decade ago, suggesting that anti-drug education efforts may be slow to
have an effect.

For example, 28.6 percent of high school seniors reported smoking
cigarettes in the past month - down from 32 percent two years ago, but
still up from 24.1 a decade ago.

Among eighth-graders, 10 percent reported using marijuana in the past
month, up from 3.5 percent in 1988.

Officials at the Maryland State Department of Education expressed concern
about the continued high rates of substance abuse but noted that Maryland
high school seniors are less likely than their peers across the country to
have used alcohol or cigarettes recently.

They said that they believe the increase could reflect the cuts in
anti-drug program funding during the recession of the early '90s but noted
that usage rates seem to be declining after peaking six or eight years ago.

"It's up [from 10 years ago]," acknowledged agency spokesman Sandy
Shepherd, "but it's dropping back again." Maryland high school seniors also
were less likely than their peers across the country to have used alcohol
or cigarettes recently.

The most recent edition of the survey, which is given every two years to
students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, was completed by 22,140 students across
the state in December 1998.

State and local school officials use the results to pinpoint trends and
problems and to assess the effectiveness of their initiatives against
substance abuse. In recent years, many districts have started taking the
results more seriously. Carroll County officials said that at first they
paid little attention to a 1994 increase in the small number of seniors who
reported trying heroin. "We thought it was a blip in the screen," said
Joanne Hayes, the county school system's coordinator for anti-drug
programs. But later, the rural-suburban county saw a surprising number of
heroin overdose deaths among young people.

"Once you have that life experience, it really makes you look at these
numbers," Hayes said. Later, when a 1996 survey showed a 5 percent increase
in the number of sixth-graders who smoke, the county decided to intensify
its anti-tobacco efforts for the next few years.

"It became important to us to never miss anything like that again," she said.

The brightest news in the survey is the continued drop in the number of
older teenagers who reported drinking alcohol in the previous month. Among
seniors, 48.4 percent had had a drink in the previous 30 days, down from
52.4 percent two years earlier, and down from 60.2 percent in 1988. Of
sophomores, 42.9 percent reported drinking in that time period, down from
43.7 percent in the last survey and 50.5 percent decade earlier.

But the trend lines have held mostly steady for younger children. About
26.6 percent of eighth-graders and 9.1 percent of sixth-graders reported
drinking, compared with 27.2 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively, a
decade earlier.

Meanwhile, more children are using drugs than did a decade ago, though
slightly less than two years ago--28.1 percent of all high school seniors
and 15 percent of eighth-graders. Marijuana appears to reign still as the
drug of choice - used by 24.2 percent of seniors sometime in the previous
month, up from 15.1 percent in 1988. And "designer drugs," such as Ecstasy,
have also shown small but significant increases over the years. Of seniors,
3.1 percent had used such substances in the past 30 days.

For the first time, this year's survey asked students in grades 8, 10 and
12 how they feel about school safety. Roughly 80 percent said they never or
rarely feel unsafe at school or in their neighborhoods. The older students
were less likely to say they ever felt unsafe.

State officials said the survey also demonstrated the strong influence of
parents in the decisions that young people make. Teenagers who did not use
drugs or alcohol were far more likely to report that they "always" have an
adult available to talk with them, make sure they wake up on time and worry
about their whereabouts. They also were more likely to report sharing at
least one meal a day with their families or at least one weekly activity.

"Even though peer pressure is tremendous, what parents say and do has more
to do with that than they think," Shepherd said.