DRUG USE NOT RISING AMONG N.J. TEENS

A 1998 Survey Of High Schoolers Found Rates Similar To Those In '95. But
More Had Tried Cocaine And Marijuana At A Young Age.

TRENTON - New Jersey high schoolers used illegal drugs and alcohol last
year at roughly the same levels as their counterparts did in 1995,
according to a survey released yesterday by the state attorney general.

Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. said the level of drug use, while
stable, remained too high. Four out of five of those surveyed had drunk
alcohol at some point, 42 percent had smoked marijuana at least once, and
7.3 percent said they had used cocaine at least once.

Farmer cited one survey finding as especially troubling: Among students who
had used cocaine or marijuana, the numbers who said they had tried the
drugs before the 10th grade increased from 47.1 percent to 57.3 percent for
cocaine and 60.7 percent to 68.6 percent for marijuana.

"While the overall results of this survey tell us that we have held the
line on drug and alcohol use among young people, they also tell us that our
work is far from done," Gov. Whitman said in a statement.

Farmer said the state needed to reduce drug use through law enforcement,
education and public awareness.

The survey was administered in October 1998 to 2,851 students from 40
public schools in grades 10, 11 and 12. State officials yesterday were
unable to provide the survey's margin of error. The survey was essentially
the same as surveys given every three years since 1980, and the overall
findings were roughly consistent with a federal government survey conducted
last year, the Attorney General's Office said.

For a variety of substances, students were asked if they had ever used the
substance, if they had used the substances in the last year, and if they
had done so in the last 30 days.

Among the findings:

The proportion of students surveyed saying they had used inhalants at least
once dropped from 22.5 percent to 18.2 percent. The number reporting use
within the previous year dropped from 16.7 percent to 12.5 percent. Figures
for the previous 30 days dropped as well, from 7.7 percent to 5.1 percent.

The proportion of students surveyed saying they had never used drugs or
alcohol stayed about the same - 19 percent in 1998, compared with 18.3
percent in 1995. The number has risen sharply since the first survey in
1980, when the figure was 5.7 percent.

The percentage of students surveyed saying drugs were "easy to obtain" has
dropped, most significantly for cocaine and hallucinogens. For cocaine, 53
percent said the drug would be easy or very easy to obtain, down from 57.2
percent in 1995. For hallucinogens, 58.6 percent said such substances would
be easy or very easy to get, down from 64.7 percent in 1995.

The survey also examined the differences in drug use among races and
socioeconomic groups. In general, white students surveyed were more likely
to say they had used drugs than black or Latino students, though for some
drugs the gap was not statistically significant.

As for socioeconomic groups, categories of high, medium and low were
examined on a schoolwide level, not on a student-by-student basis. There
was little overall difference in drug use with respect to the school's
socioeconomic group. Where such differences did exist, students from the
low group were less likely to use drugs or alcohol than students from
schools in the high or medium categories, according to the survey.