REPORT: U.S. DRUG USE SHOWS LITTLE CHANGE IN 2007

WASHINGTON - Cocaine and methamphetamine use among young adults
declined significantly last year as supplies dried up, leading to
higher prices and reduced purity, the government reports. Overall use
of illicit drugs showed little change.

About one in five young adults last year acknowledged illicit drug
use within the previous month, a rate similar to previous years. But
cocaine use declined by one-quarter and methamphetamine use by
one-third. Drug use increased among the 50-59 age group as more baby
boomers joined that category. Their past month drug use rose from 4.3
percent in 2006 to 5 percent in 2007.

"The baby boomers have much higher rates of self-destructive behavior
than any parallel age group we have data from," said John Walters,
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Walters, 55, is a boomer himself.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, being released Thursday
by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is
based on interviews with about 67,500 people.

Overall, about 20 million people 12 or older reported using illicit
drugs within the past month. Marijuana was the most popular by far,
with 14.4 million acknowledging use of marijuana in the past month.
Among adolescents, age 12 to 17, drug use dipped from 9.8 percent in
2006 to 9.5 percent last year, continuing a five-year trend. Their
use of alcohol and cigarettes also fell during the same period.

"The earlier you use drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, the more likely
you are to have a lifelong problem," Walters said.

Much of the progress in curbing drug use occurred between 2002 and
2005. Critics of the nation's drug policies warned not to read too
much into the latest numbers.

"Use of marijuana and other drugs naturally fluctuates and if you
look at long-term trends, current rates are smack in the middle of
the range they've been in for decades," said Bruce Mirken of the
Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the decriminalization of
marijuana. "There is simply no evidence that current policies ...
have made any difference." A World Health Organization survey of 17
countries this year showed that people in the U.S. were more likely
than people elsewhere to have tried illicit drugs. The U.S. tied New
Zealand for the highest rate of marijuana use and far outpaced other
countries on cocaine use, the survey found. The U.S. report measured
drug use over the past month, while the WHO's looked at drug use over
a lifetime.

The WHO survey concluded: "The use of drugs seems to be a feature of
more affluent countries. The U.S., which has been driving much of the
world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher
levels of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal
drug policies as well as a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age
than many comparable developed countries."

More than half the people who tried drugs for the first time in 2007
used marijuana, according to the U.S. survey. The rate of new
marijuana users came to about 6,000 people a day.

The overall rate of illicit drug use dropped from 8.3 percent of
those 12 and older to 8.0 percent in 2007.

Walters also acknowledged concern about nonmedical use of
prescription pain relievers among young adults. He urged parents to
have more awareness of where they keep their prescriptions and to
throw them away when the drugs are no longer needed.

The survey, which also examined mental health, indicated that 24.3
million people 18 or older experienced "serious psychological
distress over the past year." It stressed the link between mental
health and substance abuse, noting that adults experiencing
depression within the past year were more than twice as like to have
tried illicit drugs during that time than other adults.