LESS DRUGS AND DRINK, TEENS SAY

Washington - Smoking, drinking and drug use are all dropping among U.S.
teens, an annual survey published yesterday showed.

Monitoring the Future, a survey of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders done for
the Department of Health and Human Services, found declines in most major
categories in the three grades. Nevertheless, half of all 12th-graders
reported using an illicit drug, with marijuana the most popular.

Use of the synthetic drug Ecstasy has fallen after exploding during the
1990s. The survey found 52 percent of 12th-graders noted a great risk of
harm associated with Ecstasy, up 14 percentage points from 2000 figures.

The annual survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and
conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research,
tracked illicit drug use and attitudes among 44,000 students from 394 schools.

Smoking dropped 4 to 5 percentage points among eighth-, 10th- and
12th-graders, the survey found. More teens also disapprove of smoking. The
survey found 54 percent of eighth-graders and 47 percent of 12th-graders
agreed with the statement "I strongly dislike being near people who are
smoking."

In 1975, when the survey first started, 73.6 percent of 12th-graders said
they had smoked at some time in their lives. That dropped to 63 percent in
1991 and 57.2 percent in 2002.

The survey found less illegal drug use across the board, with the exception
of steroids and cocaine. Marijuana use in the past year was at the lowest
rate since 1995. Steroid use remained stable, use of crack cocaine went up
among 10th graders, and the illegal use of sedatives rose among 12th
graders, the survey found.

Alcohol use also fell. While virtually all 12th -graders say it is easy to
get alcohol - more than 95 percent - only 30 percent said they had been
drunk in the past 30 days. Fewer than 10 percent of eighth- graders had.