TEENS SAY MORE DRUGS AVAILABLE AT SCHOOLS

Chances To Use Rise As Access Increases

WASHINGTON -- More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and
those who have access to them are more likely to try them, according to a
Columbia University survey released yesterday.

Twenty-eight percent of responding middle school students reported that
drugs are used, kept, or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since
2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41
percent in the past three years, to 62 percent, the survey said. Twelve-to
17-year-olds who report that there are drugs in their schools are three
times as likely to try marijuana and twice as likely to drink alcohol
than teens who say their schools are drug-free, the survey showed.
"Availability is the mother of use," said Joseph Califano Jr., the center's
president. "We really are putting an enormous number of 12- to 17-year-olds
at great risk."

Most of the teens surveyed, 58 percent, said the legality of cigarettes has
no effect on their decision to smoke or abstain, and 48 percent said the
fact that marijuana is illegal doesn't affect whether they use the drug.
The survey found that teens who viewed drugs as morally wrong were
significantly less likely to try them, as were those who thought their
parents would be "extremely upset" to discover drug use.

The report found that teens who confided in their parents were at much
lower risk of drug abuse than teens who turn first to another adult. "It
really shouts to parents: You cannot outsource your responsibility to law
enforcement or the schools," Califano said. "I think when parents feel as
strongly about drugs in the schools as they do about asbestos in the
schools, we'll start getting the drugs out of the schools."

The survey also found that teens who say they watch three or more R-rated
movies a month, about 43 percent, are seven times as likely to smoke
cigarettes and five times as likely to try alcohol than teens who do not
watch R-rated movies. The correlation between R-rated movie-watching and
the risk of substance abuse remains even after controlling for age, the
report said. "There's no question the correlation is very strong, and it
obviously wants further study," Califano said.

The survey was conducted by phone and involved 1,000 randomly selected
youths who are 12 to 17 years old and 829 parents. Twenty-six percent of
the teens said someone nearby could hear their answers. The margin of
sampling error is 3.1 percentage points for the teens and 3.4 percentage
points for the parents.