SURVEY: 10 PERCENT OF STUDENTS HAVE USED THE DRUG ECSTASY

SACRAMENTO -- A survey of California students released Friday found that
more than 10 percent of high school students have tried the drug Ecstasy,
prompting the state to create a media campaign to target use of the drug.

The biennial survey by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office found
that Ecstasy was the third most popular drug among the 7th-, 9th- and
11th-graders questioned.

Alcohol and marijuana topped the survey, Lockyer said. This was the first
year students were asked about their use of Ecstasy.

Though alcohol remained the most popular illegal substance, its use dropped
more than other drugs, especially in the seventh and 11th grade, the survey
found.

The previous survey, from 1999 to 2000, found that 35 percent of
seventh-graders had used alcohol in the previous six months, 52 percent of
ninth-graders and 66 percent of 11th-grade students had used alcohol.

This year, 30 percent of seventh-graders, 50 percent of ninth-graders and 63
percent of 11th-graders reported drinking in the past six months.

"The good news is that seventh-graders are not drinking and smoking as much
as they have in the past," Lockyer said. "But we are concerned that heavy
drinking and drug use among older high school students remain unacceptably
high."

The survey found 4 percent of seventh-graders said they had smoked
cigarettes in the last 30 days, down from 7 percent the year before.

Marijuana use remained at similar levels to the previous study, with 7
percent of seventh-grade students saying they had smoked it in the last six
months, a drop of 2 percent. Use among ninth-graders and 11th-graders
remained at 19 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

Though Ecstasy, an illegal hallucinogenic drug popular at all-night parties,
ranked third for drug use, it was at a much lower rate. Six percent of
ninth-graders and 11 percent of 11th-graders reporting that they had tried
the drug. Two percent of seventh-graders, 5 percent of ninth-graders, and 9
percent of 11th-graders reported using Ecstasy in the past six months.

The survey's results prompted the state Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs to focus a statewide media campaign on Ecstasy and other "club
drugs," said Kathryn P. Jett, the department's director.

The attorney general's study is conducted every two years, and is
co-sponsored by the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and the
Department of Education. The 2001-02 study questioned 8,238 randomly
selected students in 113 middle and high schools.