11M AMERICANS HAVE DRIVEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS

An estimated 11 million Americans, including nearly one in five
21-year-olds, have driven while under the influence of illegal drugs, the
government says.

The numbers announced Tuesday were especially high for college students.
Eighteen percent of students surveyed said they drove while on drugs last
year, compared with 14 percent of their peers who weren't in college.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said the statistics show a failure to convince drivers that drugs
impair driving as much as alcohol does. His office is kicking off an ad
campaign to warn teens about driving while smoking marijuana.

"Marijuana is not the soft drug. Marijuana is not the casual rite of
passage," Walters said at a news conference. "We have been sending the
wrong message."

Walters said marijuana can affect concentration, perception, coordination
and reaction time for up to 24 hours after smoking it.

Officials also cited a recent study that said 15 percent of high school
seniors have driven under the influence of marijuana. That study analyzed
2001 data collected as part of the University of Michigan's annual
"Monitoring the Future" study, which questioned 44,000 students in 424
public and private schools in the country.

The report, compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
used 2002 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey
questioned 68,000 people. Researchers then extrapolated the percentages to
the population as a whole.

On the Net: Office of National Drug Control Policy,
www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/