SURVEY INDICATES JUVENILE DRUG USE DOWN IN FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE -- Fewer Florida school children say they are using drugs
compared to two years ago, bucking the national trend of rising drug
use by kids, Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday.

Bush credited the state's war on drugs for the decrease, after he
announced the results of a survey of nearly 63,000 children in grades
six through 12 with a margin of error of 1.4 percent.

After being introduced by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, background, director
of Florida's Office of Drug Control Jim McDonough discusses the
results of a survey showing that drug use among Florida 6th through
12th graders has declined, Friday, in Tallahassee. The National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse showed that drug use among Florida
youth declined for the third straight year while national rates were
climbing. Bruce Brewer/AP

At a news conference with Jim McDonough, director of the state Office
of Drug Control, Bush said the 2002 Florida Youth Substance Abuse
Survey shows lower drug use among children than the average reported
in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

McDonough said this year's figures were compared to 2000 rather than
2001 because last year's survey did not include data from some counties.

Not all counties showed the reductions, but the county-by-county
results will not be available for a few weeks, McDonough said.

Although the survey was based on children's responses, Bush said that
the answers were given confidentially and he believes the results were
accurate.

McDonough said the reported use of heroin and crack had dropped to
less than 0.5 percent among the children. He said marijuana use is the
hardest to stamp out, but even that has decreased.

Figures showed 12.1 percent of high school students reported using
marijuana in the 30 days before the survey, down 5 percent from two
years ago. Use by middle schoolers was 5.9 percent, down 13 percent.

McDonough said there is a correlation between smoking and marijuana
use, and smoking by children has decreased 38 percent in the past two
years, which could help reduce marijuana use in the future.

The statistics showed the use of heroin and psychedelic drugs down 50
percent, cocaine down 40 percent and crack cocaine 38 percent in the
past two years.

Bush has personally dealt with the dangers of drug use. His only
daughter, Noelle, has been in court-ordered rehabilitation in Orlando
since February, after she was arrested on charges of trying to use a
fake prescription to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in
Tallahassee.

Police are now investigating a report that a piece of crack cocaine
was found in her shoe at the rehab center.

Bush did not mention his 25-year-old daughter's problems at Friday's
news conference, but said the state has good rehabilitation facilities.

"It's hard to get that addiction out of you," he said.