DRUG USE DOWN AMONG ARRESTED TEENS, REPORT SHOWS

SAN DIEGO COUNTY -- The number of juveniles arrested while under the
influence of methamphetamines dropped by 11 percent in 2006 compared
with the year before, reflecting an overall drop in illegal drug use
by young people arrested in that period, according to a report
released last month by the San Diego Association of Governments.

The 20th annual county survey, which tested 160 youths between the
ages of 11 and 18 arrested during March and September of last year,
showed that meth use dropped from 21 percent in 2005 to 10 percent last year.

Overall drug use fell from 55 percent in 2005 to 51 percent in 2006,
which includes 1 percent drops in the use of marijuana at 43 percent,
cocaine at 5 percent and opiates at 1 percent. PCP use remained the
same at 1 percent; no increases of any kind were reported.

"The decrease in meth use for juveniles brings it back to other
figures we've seen since 2000," said Cynthia Burke, director of the
association's criminal justice research division. "Rather than a drop
that was unlike other years, it suggests that the higher rate we saw
in 2005 is not a trend at this point, which is obviously a positive."

Susan Bower, deputy director of alcohol and drug services for the
county, said the number of teen meth users admitted into treatment
programs also increased in 2005, though that number seems to have
returned to "average" levels of about 25 percent.

According to Bower, the percentage of teens put into those programs
who said they had any problem with meth went from 25 percent in 2003
to 31 percent in 2004 to 34 percent in 2005 back down to 24 percent in 2006.

The reason for the reported drop is unclear, Bower said.

"There's a lot of theories, we just don't know what happened," she
said. "We were not able to pinpoint exactly why, we really just look
at '05 as pretty much an anomaly."

The survey also found that 94 percent of young meth users questioned
think the drug is "extremely bad" or "very bad," despite their use of
it. Comparatively, gateway drugs such as marijuana and alcohol were
perceived as much less risky, at 30 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

The drop in meth use also contributed to a decrease in the use of
multiple drugs, which fell from 18 percent in 2005 to 8 percent last
year, Burke said.

"Most youth who test positive for drugs test positive for marijuana,
and those who test positive for multiple drugs are most likely to
also test positive for meth -- that is why a decrease in meth use is
related to a similar decline in multiple drugs," she said.

The survey showed that youths who tried gateway drugs such as
alcohol, tobacco or marijuana typically used more than one of the
three, and 92 percent of those using multiple drugs had also used
alcohol in the last 30 days. Statistics shows that the average age
that youths start using drugs is 12.

Additionally, many of the youths reported dealing with other problems
in their lives, such as running away, truancy, gang affiliation -- at
58 percent -- as well as having parents with histories of substance
use themselves, Burke said.

Likewise, when asked where they received information regarding drugs,
only 15 percent of children 15 years or younger and 12 percent of
teens 16 and older cited their parents. Children 15 and younger cited
school as their main source, while teens 16 and older cited friends.