TEEN DRUG USE DOWN SLIGHTLY, STUDY SAYS

Health: But officials say it's still to high,considering the increased
spending on prevention.

Washington-The number of teen-agers who use illicit drugs, alcohol and
tobacco declined slightly in the past school year but remain alarmingly high
in the face of billion-dollar increases in drug-war spending, an government
study released Friday shows.

Among 10th-graders, use of marijuana dropped to 31.1 percent in the 1997-98
school years, from 34.8 percent in 1996-97 year, the study found.
Thirty-five percent of 10th-graders said they had used some kind of drug,
including tobacco, in the past school year, down from 38.5 percent the year
earlier.

Overall drug use among eighth-graders dropped from 23.6 percent, to 21
percent, in the latest school year, the study shows. But marijuana use held
steady at 9.7 percent for that grade and remained at 22.8 percent among
12th-graders.

There were small drops in use of inhalants and LSD by teenagers, but the
relatively small number of heroin users did not decline.

Over the past three years, the federal government's financial commitment to
fighting drug use has grown from $13 billion a year to $18 billion. But drug
use among teens has remained high despite that increased effort.

"These figures are still very high-way to high," said Ahron Leightman,
executive director of Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Society. "Maybe these
figures have gotten so high that they can't rise much more."

Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, said the government
is not overly confident.

"The bottom line is that we have not achieved victory - and I am not
declaring it," she said.

Federal officials said Friday that they hope to see a significant drop
within the next two years.

"We ought to be skeptical and cautious about our assertions today," said
Barry McCaffrey, director of the office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Our commitment must be to continuing to make progress through a 10-year
generational effort to lock in and build on today's gains. If at any point
during this long-term process we let down our guard or squander our
momentum, we risk repeating with today's youth the wasted mistakes of past
generations."

Drug use among teens declined steadily from the early 1980s until 1992, when
it began to rise, according to University of Michigan Professor Lloyd
Johnston, who conducts the annual study.

The 1996 study found that the number of eighth-graders using marijuana had
nearly doubled from the year earlier. That survey also found significant
increases in the number of students in grades eight and 10 who use alcohol
and smoke cigarettes.

Last year's report found drug use stabilizing for the first time after years
on the rise. It also found a rise in adolescents' perception that drug use
was a bad thing, a key element in stopping actual use, said McCaffrey.

"This consistent progress gives reason for optimism," he said. "It
demonstrated that our balanced approach - focusing on preventing children
from turning to drugs, treating drug addicts and breaking trafficking
organizations -works."

Leightman, of the anti-tobacco group, said the government should place more
emphasis on curbing legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol, which are readily
available to teens. Some 22.4 percent of high school seniors smoked
cigarettes daily in the latest survey, compared with 1992's all-time low of
17.2 percent.

"The ramifications will only be felt in future decades when these people
become debilitated," said Leightman.

As part of the effort, Shalala said, every public and private middle school
is to receive scientific information to show students how drugs affect the
brain.

Shalala also called for parents to take more responsibility for preventing
teen drug use.

"They need to help their children understand that drugs attack the body,
deaden the mind and build a wall between them and their dreams," she said,
"because the only things drugs have ever done for childhood is bring it to
an early end."

The Monitoring the Future survey, conducted by the University of Michigan
for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has tracked teen-age
drug use since 1975. Almost 50,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders across
the United States were surveyed anonymously with questionnaires distributed
at 422 schools during the 1997-98 school year.

HIGHLIGHTS OF TEEN DRUG-USE SURVEY

The annual Monitoring the Future study has examined teen drug use and
attitudes since 1975. Some highlights from the 1998 report:

Any drug: Almost 30 percent of eighth-graders have tried an illegal drug at
least once. It was 45 percent for 10th-graders and 54 percent for high
school seniors. It was the first year this figure has dropped for the older
two groups and the second year for a drop among eighth-graders.

Marijuana: The most widely used drug had been tried by 22 percent of
eighth-graders, 40 percent of 10th-graders and almost half of all
12th-graders. Use among eighth-graders dropped for a second year in a row;
use among other teens dropped after several years on the rise.

Stimulants: Use has declined for two years among eighth-granders, for one
year among 10th-graders and is level among 12th-graders. About 7 percent of
eighth-graders used amphetamines in the past year. It was 11 percent of
10th-graders and 10 percent of 12th-graders.

Hallucinogens: Downward movement in all grades, though not staistically
significant.

Inhalants: Most popular among younger teens, use began to gradually decline
three years ago.

Heroin: Stable use across all grades and increasingly viewed as risky.

Cocaine: Small increases in use of crack cocaine in younger grades.

Tranquilizers: Steady among eighth-graders but continuing to gradually
increase among 10th-and 12th-graders.

Alcohol: Continued stable use among eighth-and 10th-grades. After increasing
among 12th-graders last year, it was stable among them, too. About seven in
10 sophomores said they have consumed alcohol, and one-third of senior
reported being drunk in the past month.

Cigarettes: A drop from last year's all-time high among high school seniors,
with 22.4 percent smoking daily. That still was higher than the low point of
17.2 percent in 1992. Black teenagers continue to have the lowest smoking
rates, with just less than 15 percent of black seniors saying they smoked in
the past month.

The anonymous survey was administered early this year to almost 50,000
teenagers in 422 randomly chosen classrooms by the University of Michigan's
Institute for Social Research.

Checked-by: Don Beck