TEEN SURVEY SHOWS FAR LOWER DRUG USE IN PAST TWO YEARS

Ads Highlighting Dangers Seem To Change Attitudes

WASHINGTON - Drug use among U.S. teens dropped substantially in the
past two years, according to a federal survey released Friday.

Use of marijuana -- by far the most popular drug with teens -- is down
about 11 percent since 2001, Bush administration officials reported,
and use of several other drugs, including LSD and ``ecstasy,'' dropped
even more sharply. Use of amphetamines, the second-most-popular drug
with teens, also fell.

Alcohol and cigarette use among teens declined, too, but only
modestly.

The numbers translate to 400,000 fewer teen drug users, said John
Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

``This kind of change has not been seen across the board in almost a
decade,'' he said.

The findings are from the 2003 Monitoring the Future Survey, conducted
by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research in Ann
Arbor, Mich. It reports the drug use, abstinence and attitudes of
nearly 50,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders nationwide.

``This is a siren call to drug dealers and the naysayers out there who
say we're losing the drug war,'' said Karen Tandy, administrator of
the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The news was not all upbeat, however. Reported use of inhalants among
eighth-graders rose 14 percent in the last year. Sniffing substances
such as glue, aerosols, paint thinner and nail-polish remover is
popular among young teens because the products are cheap and easy to
obtain.

Cocaine and heroin usage among teens was unchanged from 2001 to 2003,
but remained well below levels of the late 1990s. LSD plummeted by
nearly two-thirds, and ecstasy use dropped by half. The use of ``club
drugs'' like ecstasy rose rapidly from 1998 to 2001 but has since declined.

The overall drop in drug use was not merely a matter of switching from
illegal drugs to alcohol, according to the survey. The number of
students reporting that they had been drunk declined 11 percent. Teens
reporting that they had ever smoked dropped 18 percent.

The study also showed a change in adolescent attitudes. The perceived
risk of using marijuana increased at all three grade levels, for
example. Students said they had seen anti-drug ads from organizations
such as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and that the ads had
made them less likely to use drugs.

Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan, who administered the
survey, said the dramatic turnaround was not possible until young
people saw drug use as dangerous.

He cautioned that while the decline in teen cigarette smoking has been
``substantial and important,'' the current drop essentially offsets
dramatic increases in teen smoking observed in the first half of the
1990s.

``Even with the improvements, we still have a quarter of our young
people who are actively smoking by the time that they leave high
school,'' Johnston said. ``That is an unacceptably high rate for a
behavior that so endangers their health and reduces their life
expectancy.''

In many cities, more teenagers are smoking marijuana than tobacco, he
added, and that is a problem, too. Of the roughly 1 million teens who
seek drug treatment, more than 60 percent need treatment for marijuana.

Monitoring the Future reported that it had been tried at least once by
46 percent of 12th-graders and used by more than a third in the past
year. Both numbers showed a decrease over last year.

Drugs too new to have usage trends are also appearing, Johnston said.
Among high school seniors, 4.5 percent reported using the painkiller
OxyContin in the past year, and 10.5 percent say they have used the
pain-control drug Vicodin.

``Considering the addictive potential of these drugs, these are
disturbingly high rates of use,'' Johnston said.