ILLEGAL AND LEGAL DRUGS ARE DANGEROUS

It appears that American teenagers are getting the message about
illegal drugs. Unfortunately, many of them don't seem to understand
that some legal drugs also can be dangerous.

Each year the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research
conducts in-depth interviews with about 50,000 teenagers from
throughout the country, on a variety of topics. Use of drugs for
"recreational" purposes is one of the subjects covered.

According to this year's study, about 35.9 percent of high school
seniors reported using some type of illegal drug during the past
year. That's far too high, but at least progress is being made. The
rate in 1997 was 42.4 percent. Only about 1.7 percent of the seniors
reported having used marijuana during the past year, compared to 4.7
percent a decade ago.

Survey results for younger children were encouraging, too. Of
eighth-graders in the study, 13.2 percent admitted to having used
illegal drugs during the past year. That compares to 14.8 percent a year ago.

Again, any use of illegal drugs by teenagers is unacceptable. More
needs to be done to prevent them from using such substances.

But, while use of illegal substances seems to be decreasing, abuse of
legal drugs is growing. Use of drugs prescribed as painkillers or
available over-the-counter as cough and cold remedies is particularly
disturbing. It is increasing in some age categories.

Clearly, schools and parents need to be vigilant in teaching children
that drugs - even legal ones - have to be handled with care.