IN STUDY, BOSTON AREA TALLIES HIGHEST RATE OF MARIJUANA USE

Tops 12 Percent, US Survey Finds

The Boston area is the nation's capital for marijuana use, according
to a federal study that found that more than 12 percent of the area's
youths and adults smoked pot. Public health officials and other
observers chalked the high ranking up to the large population of
college students and to relatively liberal attitudes toward marijuana
in the region.

''We have known for a number of years that drug use rates in the state
are some of the highest in the country," said Michael Botticelli,
assistant commissioner for substance abuse services at the state
Department of Public Health. ''This survey allows us to target our
resources and look at areas of the Commonwealth with a concentrated
effort."

Five of the 15 areas with the highest rates of marijuana use
nationwide were in Massachusetts. Southeast and Central Massachusetts
followed the Boston area, which for the purposes of the study
included Suffolk County and parts of Norfolk County. Massachusetts
also reported some of the highest usage rates of alcohol and cocaine.

Douglass Wright. a researcher on the study by the federal Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said the peak ages
for drug use nationally coincide with the college years, between 18
and 25. After that, he said, "many people begin to settle down and
drop off their use." Wright said marijuana use was highlighted because
it is the most commonly used illicit drug and is considered a gateway
to using other drugs. The study participants were age 12 and older;
Wright said that children of that age are competent to complete such a
survey and that research shows people who start using drugs around the
early teens are the most likely to become addicted. Local youth
workers agree that teenagers in the Boston area are using marijuana at
high rates. ''It is the acceptable drug, the cool drug," said Chris
Sumner, who works with teenagers as executive director of the Boston
Ten Point Coalition. ''Kids are smart enough to realize that, unless
it's a certain amount, [they are] not trafficking. It's easy to
disguise, and there are not a lot of real big laws around using it."

The study surveyed 70,000 respondents nationally between 1999 and
2001. Interviewers brought laptops to participants' homes so they
could fill out the survey in private. In Massachusetts, 2,700 people
were randomly selected and interviewed, 360 in the Boston area. While
more than 12 percent of respondents in the Boston area reported using
marijuana in the previous 30 days, the number statewide was 9
percent. Nationally, 5 percent said they had smoked pot. Critics said
that government studies on drug use, especially among young people,
are inherently flawed.

''They really have no idea how many people in the country are using
marijuana," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a non-profit
organization that advocates making marijuana use legal. ''Boston is
thought of as a tolerant and liberal place, so of course rates are
going to be higher."

St. Pierre, who grew up in Amherst and Chatham, said that living in
areas of the country where marijuana usage is tolerated increases the
likelihood that people will report using the drug, thereby skewing
usage rates to cultural norms instead of actual use.

The results of the study are consistent with those of studies by the
Department of Public Health, Botticelli said. The reluctance of
parents to talk about drug use is also a factor, he said. ''We've seen
in other studies that parents are not talking to their kids about
marijuana and other drug use." The federal Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration distributes block grants to state
health departments to fund treatment and prevention efforts. Wright
said the study could help policymakers pinpoint problem areas.