TEEN DRUG USE DROPS IN '98, REPORT SAYS

Survey: Numbers Had Climbed Throughout The '90s, But Officials Say
Prevention Efforts Are Paying Off.

Washington-Teen drug use is beginning to creep down after climbing through
the 1990s, the government reported Wednesday. An annual survey found that
one in 10 teen-agers uses marijuana or other illegal drugs - down from 1997
though still nearly double what it was in 1992.

President Clinton and others called the results evidence that the nation
had reversed course. "We have turned an important corner," he said.

Clinton and others credited increased attention by government, communities,
parents, media and schools. "The message is finally getting through,"
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said.

Overall, drug use among Americans of all ages remained level last year, and
use among young adults continued its steady rise, according to the survey
of 25,500 people 12 and older.

All told, 78 million Americans have tried illegal drugs at some point, the
survey said. Marijuana remained far and away the most popular drug, but
41.3 million Americans also had tried heroin, cocaine or some other illegal
drug, the survey found.

Of them, 13.6 million were current users - about 6.2 percent of all
Americans - half what it was at its 1979 peak.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse also measures alcohol
consumption, which was steady last year, and cigarette smoking, which fell
to its lowest level since 1971 when the survey began. Last year, 27.7
percent of Americans smoked, with teen smoking unchanged and smoking among
young adults continuing to rise. Cigar smoking edged up.

But the survey is most carefully watched as a gauge of teen illicit drug use.

It found that 9.9 percent of 12-to 17-year-olds had used illegal drugs
within the past month, down from 11.4 percent in 1997. A second government
survey, which uses a different method to measure teen drug use, has found
drug use stable over the past two years after years on the rise.

Shalala said the combination of these results leads her to conclude that
drug use may be falling. In the past, she's called it a "glimmer of hope."

Others weren't as sure.

"I would want to see at least another year or two of declining figures
before I could feel that we have a real trend going," said Dr. Herbert
Kleber, who worked on drug policy under President Bush and now is medical
director at Columbia University's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

Overall teen drug use and use of marijuana has fluctuated over the past few
years, though the drop from 1997 was statistically significant.

The decline was driven by older teens - those ages 16 and 17 - with the
percentage having used drugs in the past year falling to 26.8 percent from
30.7 percent.

Overall, teen drug use rose through much of the 1990s and remains much
higher than it was in 1991 and 1992. Researchers attribute the rise to a
relaxing of the intense prevention efforts of the 1980s.

But Shalala and Barry McCaffrey, Clinton's drug policy adviser, say renewed
attention is making a difference.

"Sending a tough message against drugs, particularly to young people, is a
little like sending a message into deep space," Shalala said. "The message
goes out, and then you wait a year or more to find out if it's been heard."

Kleber agreed that positive messages are making a difference. When
government officials from Clinton on down talk about drugs, the media
report on the issue, parents talk about it and communities mobilize, he said.

He recalled going to see the new "Star Wars" movie with his grandson and
seeing two anti-marijuana ads before the previews. "That's an audience you
really want to get," he said.

Suddenly, he said, anti-drug messages are back in vogue. "Every day, when I
walk in downtown Manhattan, I see a billboard that says, 'Are you waiting
for your child to talk to you about marijuana?"

Wednesday's news was not as good for adults ages 18 to 25. The survey found
16.1 percent of them were "current users," meaning they had used drugs in
the past month. That rate has fluctuated over the past few years but is up
from 13.3 percent in 1994.

In particular, cocaine use rose last year, from 1.2 percent in 1997 to 2
percent in 1998.

Officials suspect that the rising statistics relate to this particular
group of people - the same people who were more likely to use drugs when
they were teenagers, who have now become young adults.

And young adults are particularly hard to reach, said McCaffrey. "It's
easier to influence (them) as adolescents."