WYOMING ANTI-DRUG ADVOCATES APPLAUD STUDY

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming anti-drug program leaders are enthusiastic about
a proposed $1.6 billion national campaign for increased drug-abuse
prevention and treatment in rural America.

"It's nice that they're recognizing the problem in rural America, and I
applaud their efforts there," said Tom Pagel, director of the state
Department of Criminal Investigation and chairman of Gov. Jim Geringer's
task force on methamphetamine abuse.

"We could sure use some of that," agreed Jean DeFratis, the Wyoming
Department of Health's Behavioral Health Division grant administrator for
drug-treatment programs.

A study by a Columbia University institute reported escalating drug abuse
among eighth-through 12th-graders in small cities and rural areas. It called
for new spending to combat the problem.

"This is something we've been telling people for five years, that this was
what was going on," Pagel said.

Wyoming's soon-to-be-released report on 1999 juvenile substance abuse
confirms the national study's findings of "high levels" of teen drug abuse
at or above levels of a year ago, DeFratis said.

Multiple state-level reports, DeFratis said, show out a number of alarming
drug trends in Wyoming: hard-drug abuse beginning in junior high school;
methamphetamine use in eighth grade at five times the
national rate in some parts of the state; and double the national rate of
alcohol-related fatal crashes.