SURVEY: TEEN DRUG USE HAS DROPPED

MILFORD -- Drug and alcohol use among Bay State high school students is down
across-the-board, according to the preliminary results of a survey
commissioned by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Teen use of 10 out of 12 illegal prescription and over-the-counter drugs was
down from a similar survey conducted in 1996. The other two, the
performance-enhancing substances creatine and androstenedione, were not
included in the 1996 survey.

"These numbers look very encouraging," MIAA Deputy Director Bill Gaine said
yesterday. "I haven't really had a chance to look them over (carefully) but
it looks impressive."

The biggest drop came in the use of pain medications, which fell 11 percent
among high-schoolers since 1996. Then, 28 percent of students said they used
them for a variety of reasons, while just 17 percent of the students
surveyed this year said they use painkillers.

Marijuana, which 32 percent of the students surveyed this year admitted to
using regularly, was down from 41 percent in 1996.

The number of high school students who drink alcohol at least one day a week
also dropped in three years, from 67 percent to 60 percent. And the number
of Bay State high school students who smoke cigarettes was down, 64 percent
to 58 percent.

"There appears to be some good news out there," said Boston University
sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky, who announced the 1999 MIAA
Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Survey results yesterday in Milford.

Zaichkowsky and doctoral candidate Adam Naylor teamed up with Gaine for the
survey, the fourth such survey conducted by the MIAA. The BU professor was
quick to point out that the results are merely a preliminary sampling, and
that research staff are still putting in the results.

In all, the survey now includes results from 805 Massachusetts students
surveyed in high schools across the state over the last year. The final
results, which will include as many as 1,600 students, will be released
early next month.

Still, the preliminary results offer enough of a representative sample to
declare the good news.

"Between 800 and 1,600, I don't think it's going to change a whole lot,"
Zaichkowsky said.

Naylor presented the results to teachers, coaches and administrators at the
MIAA's third annual Statewide Wellness Summit in the Radisson Hotel in
Milford.

The survey results include a breakdown of drug, alcohol and tobacco use
among athletes compared to non-athletes. For every substance included in the
survey, with the exception of creatine, use was lower among athletes than
non-athletes.

"Do athletics promote a healthy lifestyle?" Naylor said. "The results would
seem to indicate that, yes."

The substances included in the survey were broken down into two basic
categories: recreational drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana,
crack/cocaine and psychedelics; and ergogenic aids, including
anti-inflammatory medications, painkillers, barbiturates, amphetamines,
steroids, creatine and androstenedione.

In addition to the number of users, the survey also tested for the source of
the drugs, with whom the drugs are used, and why. Students reported getting
their drugs from friends, teammates, doctors and coaches.

The use of crack and cocaine is down in state high schools from 5.4 percent
to around 5 percent. The use of psychedelics, including LSD, ecstasy,
ketamine and mushrooms, was down from 15 percent to 10 percent.

The use of anabolic steroids is down from 5 percent to 2 percent. But in an
interesting side note, Zaichkowsky pointed out that in another survey he
recently conducted, 2.7 percent of middle school students admitted to using
steroids.

The MIAA Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Survey grew out of the public dismay of
the cocaine-related death of former Celtic draftee Len Bias in 1986. The
following year, Gaine and Zaichkowsky joined forces for the first such
survey, a feat that has been repeated by Zaichkowsky and his doctoral
students four times since.

Nationally, 15.6 percent of the U.S. population has engaged in illicit drug
use, said Naylor, and 76 percent of those users start before age 19.

But national percentages are only so useful in assessing the state of things
here in Massachusetts, Zaichkowsky said.

"The national data can be misleading," he said. "It's important that we look
at our own data here in Massachusetts."

The 805 students included in the preliminary results of the survey include
55 percent males and 45 percent females. The sampling is weighted toward
younger students, with 43 percent of those surveyed being high school
freshmen, while 20 percent are sophomores, 22 percent are juniors and 15
percent are seniors.

The ethnic breakdown of the survey results includes 81 percent white
students, 6 percent Asian-American, 7 percent Latin-American, 5 percent
African-American and 1 percent Native American.

The majority of the students surveyed, 72 percent, were athletes either in
school or extracurricular competition.

MIAA Wellness Coordinator Jack Westcott said the survey allows the
association to tailor its drug and alcohol intervention programs to the
needs of the state's students.

Some of the educators and students at yesterday's Wellness Summit said
they've seen evidence of the survey's encouraging results every day in the
classroom.

"I think more kids are realizing that you can have fun without drugs and
alcohol," said Joan Cowan, health coordinator for the Hopkinton School
Department. "And as more and more kids make that decision, it becomes easier
for them because it's more acceptable among their peers."

Cowan also said that schools are taking a more positive approach to drug
education these days. Rather than frightening students with war stories from
haggard ex-addicts, educators are emphasizing the positive results of a
drug-free lifestyle.

"I still see it going on in school," said Hopkinton High School sophomore
Connie Chace. "But what I don't see is the peer pressure. I think it's cool
now for people to say, no."