DRUG USE SHIFTS

A new government report shows fewer young people in America using
drugs like marijuana, Ecstasy, and LSD - good news indeed, and some
evidence that antidrug campaigns continue to work.

The 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released last week,
found a 5 percentage point decline in the number of 12- to
17-year-olds who had ever tried marijuana from 2002, and a 30
percentage point decline in the number of 12- and 13-year-olds who had
used the drug within a month of the survey.

But the study also found smoking and drinking levels remained
disturbingly static. Fifty-four million kids and adults binged on
alcohol at least once before taking the survey, and only an estimated
3.3 million of those were treated. The study also confirms a troubling
trend - a rise in the abuse of prescription drugs. In fact, 32.1
million Americans over age 12 reported using a prescription drug for a
non-medical (read: recreational) use - up from 29.6 million the year
before.

Society must sound greater warnings about the dangers of abusing
prescription drugs, and work to develop more effective education and
drug-treatment programs for youths and adults. States also can create
better ways of monitoring pharmacies that dispense controlled substances.