MIDDLE SCHOOL PIVOTAL FOR DRUG USE?

Study: National Survey Finds Youngsters More Vulnerable To Drugs When They
Try To Fit In At That Level.

The first national drug-abuse survey to include elementary school
children among the respondents suggest that youngsters become more
vulnerable to the lure of drugs when they leave the familiar
environment of primary school and strive to fit into middle school.

The new survey, by Pride, an organization based in Atlanta that
counsels schools and parents on ways to inhibit drug use among the
young, also confirms again what many researchers have long known: that
cigarettes, alcohol (primarily beer) and inhalants are used far more
by children than are marijuana or harder drugs.

Pride - the name is an acronym for the National Parents' Resource
Institute for Drug Education - issued its findings Wednesday at its
national conference in Cincinnati. Previous drug-abuse surveys among
children did not focus on those below the eighth grade. But Pride's
survey questioned pupils from grades four through six, and among the
findings were these:

The proportion of respondents who said they had smoked cigarettes in
the past month jumped to 7 percent of sixth-graders, from 1.6 percent
of fourth-graders.

Similarly, 2.1 percent of fourth-graders said they drank beer at least
once a month, fewer than half the 4.7 percent of sixth-graders who
reported doing so.

Monthly sniffing of glue and other inhalants also rose between the
grades, although less so: to 2.7 percent of sixth-graders from 2.2
percent of fourth-graders.

As for marijuana, only 0.4 percent of fourth-grade pupils acknowledged
having smoked it in the past month, compared with 1.7 percent of
sixth-graders.

"The reported dramatic increase of marijuana use between the fifth and
sixth grades is a real wake-up call to parents" said the director,
retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey.