HALF OF PUPILS SMOKE DRUGS

MORE than half of 17-year-old students have smoked marijuana, according to
a survey of drug use in secondary schools.

The survey, released yesterday, found that tobacco and marijuana use were
about the same through-out secondary school.

Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge was shocked by the findings.

"I was quite shocked by the very high level of cannabis (marijuana) usage,"
he said.

"Clearly, that's an area where Australian governments have to do more."

The survey quizzed 30,000 students aged 12 to 17 across the nation about
their drug use in 1996, including, for comparison, alcohol and tobacco.

The Centre for Behavioural Research at the Anti-Cancer Council of Australia
coordinated the survey, which was released at a meeting of the ministerial
council on drug strategies.

The report said more boys than girls used marijuana in all age groups.

Usage among 17-year-old boys was as high as 57% per cent, 3 per cent higher
than young women of the same age.

The report said students still using substances such as marijuana when they
were 16 were more likely to leave school at an earlier age than those who
had grown out of the drug.

Children as young as 12 were using heroin (25 per cent), but generally the
use of opiates, which also included morphine, was low, peaking at 4.3 per
cent for 15-year-old boys.

"On the issue of heroin I guess I was pleasantly surprised that there
appears not to have been an increase in usage amongst school kids over the
last 10 to 15 years," Dr Wooldrldge said.

Twenty per cent of students had experimented with tranquilisers, including
sleeping pins and sedatives for non-medical purposes, the report said.

Reported use of inhalants such as petrol, aerosols and glue was more common
among younger students, 32 per cent for 12-year-olds through to 15 per cent
for those aged 17.

Analgesics were the most common substance (illicit or legal) used by
students. By the age of 12 more than 95 per cent had used analgesics,
usually more by girls than boys.

Nine per cent of all students said they had tried hallucinogens but 94 per
cent said they had never used amphetamines.

Use of steroids, cocaine and ecstasy was also rare.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan