POT USE MAY FUEL BLACK TEENS' CHOICE TO TAKE UP CIGARETTES

YONKERS, N.Y. -- In the search to explain the spike in smoking among black
teenagers, a range of theories has evolved: the proliferation of tobacco
advertising in minority communities, the stress of adolescence,
identification with celebrities who appear with cigarettes dangling from
their lips.

Teens themselves, and some experts who have studied adolescent smoking, add
another, less predictable explanation: the decision to take up smoking
because of a belief that cigarettes prolong the rush of marijuana.

``It makes the high go higher,'' said Marquette, a 16-year-old high school
student in Yonkers, who spoke about her marijuana use on the condition that
only her first name be used.

Marquette's response was not unusual, judging by interviews with dozens of
adolescents around the United States, and the results of national surveys.
These surveys show that blacks begin smoking cigarettes later than white
teenagers, but start using marijuana earlier, a difference experts say they
cannot explain.

The surveys also show a sharp rise in both tobacco and marijuana use among
teenagers in recent years, evident among all races but most pronounced among
blacks. White teenagers still smoke cigarettes at twice the rate of blacks,
but the gap is narrowing, signaling the end of low smoking rates among black
youth that had been considered a public-health success story.

It is not clear how much of the increase in smoking among black teenagers is
a result of the use of cigarettes with marijuana, but that behavior is
notable because it is the reverse of the more common progression from legal
drug use to illegal drugs.

Many scientists who study brain chemistry say the link between nicotine and
marijuana is unproved but is very likely true.

``African-American youth talk very explicitly about using smoking to
maintain a high,'' said Robin Mermelstein, a professor at the University of
Illinois at Chicago and the principal investigator in a study of why
teenagers smoke, for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
``It's a commonly stated motivator.''

Even so, Mermelstein and others say they still think the main cause of
increased smoking by black teenagers is the abundance of advertising and
other media messages in minority neighborhoods.

``Kids are extraordinarily aware of the entertainment media,'' Mermelstein
said. ``They are very reluctant to see the link between any of these and
their behavior. But the influence is undoubtedly there.''

The nationwide federal study showed overall smoking rates had increased by
one-third among high school students between 1991 and 1997. Most alarming to
experts was the sharp rise among black youth: 22.7 percent in 1997, up from
12.6 percent six years earlier.