'JUST SAY NO' GOING UP IN MARIJUANA SMOKE ON CAMPUSES

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When it comes to marijuana, the three freshmen at George
Washington University were solidly in agreement, as if considering the
merits of early morning classes or pain-in-the-neck roommates.

"Cigarettes are worse," said Craig Brooks, 18, of Long Island, N.Y. "We all
know that."

Fellow Long Islander Michelle Rubinstein piped up, "We just don't make an
issue of it. Marijuana is accepted."

"I don't think any of it is good for you," added Jake Kaplan, 18, of
Westchester County, N.Y. "But we hear about the problems with tobacco. You
don't hear anything like that about marijuana."

The consensus reached in the hallway of Thurston Hall, the university's
1000-bed freshman dorm, underscores a growing trend among American youth.

Call it a shift from Reefer Madness to Reefer Gladness, as use of marijuana
rises along with support for its legalization, according to recent surveys
of student attitudes.

The affinity for marijuana flies in the face of growing conservatism in
other areas, according to surveys that show today's college freshmen are
more apt to favor restricting abortion rights and are less accepting of gay
relationships than students in recent years.

"I'm not surprised students think it should be legalized because it's the
most accessible thing out there next to liquor," said Amy Kim, a freshman
at the University of Arizona. "It's out there, but it isn't a big deal. If
you don't smoke, you just disregard it."

Support for marijuana legalization has grown among college freshmen from
just 16.7 percent in 1989 to 35.2 percent in 1997, according to a study by
the University of California, Los Angeles for the Washington-based American
Council on Education.

Marijuana use among high school seniors also is rising. More than 50
percent of seniors say they have smoked it compared to 33 percent who
admitted to its use in 1992, according to Dr. Lloyd Johnston, author of an
annual report on youth trends involving drugs for the National Institute on
Drug Abuse.

"The perception of risks in smoking marijuana is eroding. They don't see it
as dangerous," said Johnston, program director at the University of
Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Steve Dnistrian, senior vice president of Partnership for a Drug-Free
America, said he is disappointed by the survey results but not surprised.

"We had the media focus. We had the government focus. Kids were exposed to
the message and decided it wasn't worth it to smoke," Dnistrian said. "We
burned out giving the message, and the public burned out on hearing it."

Keith Stroup, founder and executive director of NORML, the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, believes that students'
familiarity with marijuana is breeding newfound acceptance of it.

"More people are going by their own experiences," he said. "For a long
time, the government put out these Reefer Madness reports, and they molded
opinions. But now, when a third of the population have experience with
marijuana, they don't believe the government."

The 1980s saw new laws allowing the forfeiture of property seized during
drug arrests and an expansion of drug testing for public and private work
places in addition to first lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" to drugs
campaign.

What's filled the vacuum since, Dnistrian said, is tacit approval of smoke.

"Musicians started singing its praises openly and then sitcoms treated
smoking in a funny way," he said. "Then, marijuana leaves started showing
up on hats and shirts. And when the media started up with stories about how
the drug war was lost, our message was lost."

Copyright 1998 The Shawnee News-Star