Juniorhigh students' drug use rising, survey finds

By David LaGesse / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON A new survey shows that drug use among juniorhigh students
continues to climb, reinforcing fears that young teenagers remain
vulnerable to a new wave of drug abuse.

The rise in teenage drug use, however, appeared to be slowing compared with
steeper rises shown in recent years, according to the survey conducted by
Pride, an Atlantabased drugawareness organization.

"We are beginning to see some signs of progress in reducing teenage drug
use," said Doug Hall, a Pride senior consultant.

Overall, substance abuse among juniorhigh school students reached its
highest levels in the 10 years that Pride has taken the survey. Pride said
141,077 students in 28 states responded to the questionnaire.

Students in grades six through eight reported increases in the monthly use
of most illicit drugs, according to the survey conducted by Pride. The
survey showed that 11.4 percent of juniorhigh students used illicit
narcotics monthly during this school year, compared with 10.9 percent in
19951996.

But the rise was slower than the increases in recent years that have nearly
doubled teenage drug abuse compared with 199091. The surging drug use
among kids has drawn national attention and new spending programs,
including $235 million approved by Congress for Clinton administration
initiatives.

The Pride review showed that monthly drug use remained essentially flat
among seniorhigh students in the last year after sharper increases earlier
this decade.

"Drug use by children is up but it may have turned the corner this year,"
said drug czar Barry McCaffrey.

Alcohol and cigarette use, however, rose among seniorhigh students this year.

"Of all the drug categories we studied, cigarettes and liquor showed the
strongest increases," said Mr. Hall.

About 54.9 percent of students in grades nine through 12 had used liquor
sometime in the past year, compared with 53.4 percent the year before,
according to the survey. Cigarette use rose similarly among all senior high
students to 50.2 percent from 48.2 percent.

Pride officials said marketing programs by tobacco and alcohol companies,
as well as social trends, probably contributed to the higher use among
students.

Manufacturers and distillers deny targeting kids with marketing programs,
but tobacco companies agreed to spend millions of dollars to counter
youthful smoking as part of recent court settlements with states.

Juniorhigh students also showed increased use of cigarettes and liquor but
less than the older students.

As in past years, the Pride survey showed drug use at higher levels than
one other wellknown student survey, the National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse, which is conducted for the Health and Human Services Department.
Pride's survey, for example, showed that 18.3 percent of children kids aged
12 to 17 used any illicit drug monthly in contrast to 9 percent for the
household survey.

A third survey, the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Monitoring the
Future survey, has not released figures for the 199697 school year.

Since 199091, eighthgrade students have nearly doubled their use of
illicit drugs, according to the Pride survey. Thirteen percent of eighth
graders said they had used an illicit drug in the 199091 school year
which climbed to 27.9 percent this year.

Seniorhigh students showed also showed an increase, but not as steep
from 24.8 percent in 199091 to 41.6 percent in 199697.

"This is our second drug epidemic in America," said Sen. Joseph Biden,
DDel., who joined the Pride officials in releasing the survey results.

The greater use among younger students, and among students compared to
adults, has made this last wave of rising drug abuse different than earlier
waves, Mr. Hall said.

"In the past, it began among the adult population and sort of filtered down
to the young population," he said.

Pride and administration officials said the key to stopping the problem was
better efforts by parents to discourage substance abuse.

"The heart and soul of this effort is your parents," Mr. McCaffrey said.