SURVEY SHOWS INCREASE IN TEEN DRUG USE

WASHINGTON - Illegal drug use and cigarette smoking among sixth-
through 12-graders increased slightly during the last school year
compared with the year before, says a survey released Wednesday.
Alcohol use remained at the same level during both academic years.

Nearly one-fourth, or 24 percent, of these teenagers reported using
illegal drugs at least once in the 2002-2003 school year, compared
with to 22 percent in 2001-2002, according to the Pride Survey, which
is an independent assessment of adolescent drug use and other behaviors.

The survey found a 1 percentage point increase in cigarette use, to 27
percent in 2003, up from 26 percent the year before. About half of
these students reported drinking alcohol each year.

While the increases are not striking, the survey's author, Thomas J.
Gleaton, said the question is how much teenage drug use is the nation
willing to accept.

Alcohol and drug use remain the top problem facing young people, the
report says. Teenagers who use them risk becoming addicted and put
themselves in greater danger of dropping out of school, committing
crime, attempting suicide or becoming involved in assorted other
dangerous behaviors.

Most substance abuse occurs after school hours - at nights and on
weekends.

"If one in four teens using drugs is acceptable, we have done well in
controlling drugs over the past decade," Gleaton said. "If a quarter
of our youth on drugs is unacceptable, we need stronger action to
truly dent teen problems."

Schools, communities and states have used Pride survey data since 1982
to gather information on student drug and alcohol abuse.

The information in the latest survey was based on responses from a
sample of 109,919 students. Nearly 460,000 adolescents from across the
country anonymously answered questionnaires between August 2002 and
June 2003 about their use of these substances, and other behaviors.

State or regional breakdowns were not included in the survey.