POT USE INCREASES AMONG SANTA BARBARA STUDENTS

Report: Tolerance, Access, Supply Play Role

Marijuana use has risen among Santa Barbara's students in the past
four years, even as it declined nationally during the same period.

Local high school juniors are showing the largest increase. When asked
if they had smoked marijuana in the past 30 days, 31 percent said
"yes," compared to 23 percent in 1999, according to preliminary
results of a survey to be released later this summer.

The report comes amid growing concern over the increased potency of
marijuana and as some local campuses plan stepped-up efforts to
promote drug-free activities.

Nationally, the news is good. The percentage of junior high and high
school students who answered "yes" on the same question about recent
use decreased across the board. For high school seniors -- the closest
available comparison to the study of local juniors -- it fell from 23
to 21 percent, according to the latest study by the federal National
Institute on Drug Abuse.

The Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation conducted the local survey of
high school juniors, ninth- and seventh-graders. The survey found
marijuana use among ninth-graders had increased from 11 to 15 percent,
while seventh-graders held steady at less than 5 percent.

"It didn't surprise me terribly that what's declining (nationally) at
a slow rate would be moving slower in places like Santa Barbara," said
RAND researcher Pat Ebener. "In more affluent communities, you expect
more supply and access."

How Santa Barbara stacks up against specific cities won't be known
until the final results are out.

Vicente Rios, a junior at Santa Barbara High School, said the local
marijuana statistics sound about right to him.

Many students, he said, are getting high during their lunch and free
periods and returning to school stoned. The students use eyedrops to
remove the redness from their eyes, a side effect of smoking pot.

"You can be like 30 minutes late for class and not be marked tardy,"
he noted.

Some students say that Ecstasy, which creates a wave of psychedelic
and stimulant effects, is gaining popularity.

"It's more popular than (marijuana) bud," said a sophomore who
identified himself only as Carlos. "At least it's being talked about
more."

The local survey didn't show an increase in use of drugs such as
heroin and cocaine. It did not ask students about methamphetamine use,
which officials say seems to be on the rise.

In Santa Barbara, the number of students suspended for using illegal
drugs has risen in three years, from 175 to 220 in 2003-04. The vast
majority of those offenses are marijuana-related.

Ms. Ebener said Santa Barbara and other California communities seem to
be more tolerant of marijuana.

That rings true to Santa Barbara police spokesman Paul McCaffrey, who
noted that county leaders last month signed off on a program that
would issue identification cards to patients who qualify for medical
marijuana.

"Public opinion of marijuana use certainly has changed very
dramatically," he said. "The stigma about using marijuana has lessened."

At the same time, the number of people arrested in Santa Barbara for
driving while under the influence of the drug has increased
significantly in five years, he said.

Despite the local survey's findings, some educators say they haven't
seen a noticeable increase in use.

"I saw very little drug use (last year)," said Gerrie Fausett, the
former principal of Santa Barbara Junior High School, who was recently
promoted to a district office position. "Even paraphernalia, very
little. . . . it comes and goes in waves."

And Santa Barbara High School Principal Kristine Robertson said
there's been "no discernible increase in marijuana use."

Goleta Valley Junior High Principal Paul Turnbull said while he hasn't
noticed increased drug use, he has heard more "talk" about drugs,
marijuana in particular.

Nevertheless, junior high and high school students likely will see
subtle changes to curb drug usage beginning this fall.

For instance, instead of targeting only students having the most
problems, the drug and alcohol "youth service specialists" working as
anti-drug advocates at every secondary campus will focus more on
mainstream students.

The specialists -- who are hired by the local nonprofit Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, which contracts with the schools -- will
refer students with the most severe problems to traditional school
counselors.

The schools this year also will provide more "sober activities," such
as hiking trips, visits to amusement parks, and movie parties on
weekend nights, said Penny Jenkins, the council's executive director.

One official said the slight increase in marijuana use seems
statistically irrelevant.

"My sense is the use of marijuana . . . is not nearly as high as it
was in the '60s and '70s," said Dr. Dave Bearman, the medical director
at Zona Seca Treatment Center in Lompoc, and a longtime proponent of
medical marijuana. "I say that from having a daughter at Dos Pueblos
(High School) . . . and just talking with her."

Potency: More Teens Getting Treatment

As the potency of marijuana has risen in recent years, so has the
number of South Coast teens in treatment for using the drug.

The proportion of youths age 12 to 17 who are treated primarily for
marijuana at the Daniel Bryant Youth and Family Treatment Center in
Santa Barbara has climbed from about 70 percent in 2001 -- the year of
its inception -- to 82 percent this past school year. The center
serves about 200 children and teens.

Two other local facilities offering treatment to teens -- Full
Spectrum Recovery and Zona Seca -- reported similar increases.

The higher potency of marijuana, and the resulting spike in treatment,
has been getting more national attention of late. Nationally, the
number of children and teenagers in treatment for marijuana dependence
and abuse has jumped 142 percent since 1992, the Associated Press
reported last week.

Locally, partly in response to the increase, the Daniel Bryant Center
is opening a new cannabis-use unit in the fall.

"Kids are getting addicted," said Maria Long, spokeswoman for the
center. "It's not considered a gateway drug anymore. It's considered a
harmful drug."

Average levels of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, have risen
steadily from 3.5 percent in 1988 to more than 7 percent in 2003,
according to the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency
Project. In the 1960s and 1970s, levels hovered around 2 percent, said
Michelle Falvey, the clinical supervisor of the new Daniel Bryant
program. Today, the strongest strains, known as "British Columbia
bud," are up to 25 percent, she said.

Some students say they are familiar with the boosted potency.

A high school sophomore named Maria said she had a friend who recently
went to a hospital emergency room after smoking marijuana and passing
out at a party. Though her friend may have been drinking that night,
he was a "marijuana addict" whose daily use of the drug had increased
significantly, she said.

"We kept telling him to stop," she said. "It's good to do it once in a
while, but he kept doing it every day."

While Cottage Hospital spokeswoman Janet O'Neill said emergency room
workers there have not seen an increase in teenagers on marijuana, the
national rate has more than tripled between 1994 and 2001, according
to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times.

The most frequent reason for the visits was an "unexpected reaction,"
rather than an "overdose," which happened 10 percent of the time, the
report stated.

John Williams, a school resource officer at Santa Barbara High School,
said he witnessed the "unexpected reaction" phenomenon last year.

"One time we had a big kid who . . . wouldn't let us put cuffs on
him," he said. "It took four officers."

The student, he said, wasn't acting violent, just confused and
uncertain.

"He didn't know how to react," he said. "It obscures your
senses."

Some consequences of heavy use among teens include truancy, academic
failure, a difficulty in regulating moods and impulsive
decision-making, officials said.

The number of marijuana-smoking youth treated every week at Full
Spectrum -- a substance-use outpatient facility with a "youth and
marijuana" component -- has increased from approximately 20 to 40 in
two years, said therapist Len Van Nostrand, one of the center's three
founders.

The number at Zona Seca has increased from about "one or two" 13 years
ago to between 10 and 15 now, said Robbie Porter, a longtime employee
there.

At the Daniel Bryant Center, the new "cannabis-use" program, which
officials hope will begin in November, will last six weeks and include
family therapy.

Though the center's current program accommodates kids with marijuana
problems, its length -- a minimum of three months -- intimidates some
families, Ms. Falvey said.

"A parent may think, 'I've got a kid in treatment for six months (who
is) doing drug testing all the time,' " she said. "It's a difficult
pill to swallow."