RISE SEEN IN LAKE TEENS' USE OF MARIJUANA

Although a survey of Lake County teens showed that alcohol and tobacco use
has declined in the last six years among high school juniors, the study
released Friday found that marijuana use has risen among 6th, 8th and 11th
graders.

Similar findings on marijuana use among teens appeared in a national
government survey last month, prompting Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala to say that the rise was partly due to attitudes among
students and parents that it is a low-risk, "soft" drug.

"Because they grew up at a time when marijuana was around, this generation
of parents has ambiguous feelings about it," said Peter Mulhall, a
researcher with the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who conducted the Lake County
survey.

The center did the study for the Lake County Fighting Back Coalition, a
federally funded umbrella organization that advises and trains prevention
groups in the county.

Using a wide sample of 4,739 private and public students in Grades 6, 8 and
11--compared with 1,739 in 1992--the study is the most comprehensive,
countywide survey of substance use among teens in the Chicago area.

The study found that among high school juniors, 22.9 percent had smoked
marijuana in the last month, up from 15.1 percent in 1992. Among 8th
graders, the portion who had used it in the last four weeks increased to
10.9 percent, from 3.1 percent in 1992. In the 6th grade, 1.2 percent said
they had, compared with 0.10 percent six years ago.

Somewhat encouraging, though, are other study findings showing that
marijuana use across the country appears to be leveling off after a steady
rise since the early 1990s, Mulhall said.

The researcher said he was surprised by the "significant" decline in
11th-grade tobacco use, with 27.1 percent reporting they had smoked in the
last month, compared with 30.3 percent in 1992.

Similarly, the portion of high school juniors who said they had consumed
alcohol in the last four weeks dropped to 38.7 percent, from 45.6 percent
six years ago.

However, mirroring a nationwide trend, a pattern of increased alcohol and
marijuana use among 8th graders was detected in the survey. In 1998, 18.9
percent of teens in that grade reported using alcohol in the last month, up
from 15.1 percent in 1992.

"What prevention groups can ask is, `What goes on between 6th and 8th grade
that escalates this use?' " Mulhall said.

Recent social trends, such as the increase in "latchkey kids," may be
exacerbating the greater feelings of vulnerability and insecurity
experienced at this stage of development, the researchers said.

Checked-by: Don Beck