TEEN-AGERS' DRUG ABUSE IS LEVELING OFF, ANNUAL STUDY FINDS

TRENDS: Use of steroids and 'ecstasy' are found to be increasing, however.

WASHINGTON- An annual study shows that illicit drug use among the nation's
teens is leveling off, health officials said Friday, though use of steroids
and the drug "ecstasy" is climbing.

"Today's report confirms that we have halted the dangerous trend of
increased drug use among our young people," said Donna Shalala, secretary of
Health and Human Services.

For the 25th year, the University of Michigan asked more than 45,000
eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade students across the country about whether they
used drugs and alcohol each day, over the past year, or in their lifetime.

The study found that for a third year in a row, reported use of drugs such
as marijuana, amphetamines, hallucinogens, tranquilizer or not at all.

It found that use of crack cocaine dropped 14 percent among eighth-graders
and 27 percent among 10th-graders.

One in four 12th-graders, one in five 10th-graders, and nearly one in eight
eighth-graders reported using an illicit drug in the past 30 days.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton's drug policy director, said that
while the nation has made some progress in its campaign against drugs, usage
levels remain higher than at the beginning of the decade.

Alcohol use among teens also remained stable compared with last year's
figures. In 1999, about one in 11 eighth-graders, one in five 10th-graders
and one in three 12th-graders reported being drunk during the past month.

"One note of alarm," said McCaffrey, "is the rise in the use of steroids
among youth." Past-month steroid use among 10th-graders increased almost 50
percent.

Lloyd Johnston, the primary researcher for the Michigan survey, suggested
that baseball home run champion Mark McGwire's use of a steroid - which he
has since discontinued - may have affected notions about steroids among
young boys.