USE OF ALCOHOL,TOBACCO AND DRUGS BY MILITARY DROPS

Use of alcohol,tobacco and illegal drugs among active-duty U.S. service
members during 1998 was the lowest since the military began tracking it in
1980, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Sue Bailey, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, called
the 1998 survey results encouraging but said the changes from the previous
survey three years earlier were "not significant."

Heavy drinking was acknowledged by 15.4 percent in the latest survey, down
from 17.1 percent in 1995. Heavy drinking was defined as consuming five or
more drinks per occasion at least once a week.

In the latest survey, 29.9 percent said they had smoked a cigarette in the
past 30 days. That is down slightly from 31.9 percent in 1995 and compares
with 51 percent in 1980. Cigar or pipe smoking, however, rose sharply, from
18.7 percent in 1995, to 32.6 percent last year.

The percentage who reported using illegal drugs fell to 2.7 percent, from
3.0 percent in 1995. In 1980, when the Pentagon's survey of health-related
behavior was first given, 27.6 percent said they used drugs.

Last year's survey was self-administered anonymously by 17,264 active-duty
men and women in all pay grades of all service branches at bases around the
world.