IT'S EASIER TO BUY MARIJUANA THAN CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL, TEENS SAY

WASHINGTON - Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or
beer - one in three say they can find it in a matter of hours - but only 25
percent admit trying it, a national survey finds.

When the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse polled 1,000
teens last winter, 27 percent said they could buy marijuana in an hour or
less; another 8 percent said it would take a few hours. But for the first
time since the study began in 1996, teenagers said it was easier to buy
marijuana than cigarettes or beer.

The annual survey didn't specify whether drugs are easy or difficult to buy
at school, but 63 percent of students said their schools are "drug-free,"
nearly double the number who said the same in 1998. It's the highest
percentage since 1996.

While many have criticized nationally used anti-drug programs such as DARE,
educators said years of using such programs seem to be paying off.

"I think we're starting to see the fruition of some of those programs,"
said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of
Secondary School Principals.

He said student drug use has been dropping for the past four or five years
as communities began financing anti-drug programs. "There has been a sense
that the drug problem, while not solved, has been improving," he said.

More than half of students said they don't drink alcohol in a typical week,
and about as many said they have never had a drink.

While one in four pupils said at least one of their parents smoke
cigarettes, 69 percent said they have never smoked.

Joel Willen, principal of Pershing Middle School in Houston, said teachers
and administrators are seeing less drug activity at school. "I think the
kids are not bringing whatever it is they're doing, if they're doing it, to
school," he said.

Pershing's drug-prevention programs are paired with a get-tough policy on
drugs that includes twice-yearly, random locker and backpack searches by
drug-sniffing dogs, Willen said. Students caught using or selling drugs can
be sent to an alternative school or even expelled.

"They know we take a real hard line on drugs," he said.

The survey also found that:

8 percent of students believe there's a teacher at their school who uses
illegal drugs.

25 percent said they have seen illegal drugs being sold at school.

55 percent said they'd report someone they saw using drugs at school.

56 percent said they'd report someone they saw selling drugs at school, the
highest level since 1996.

24 percent said drugs are "the most important problem facing people your
age," highest among several problems such as crime, peer pressure,
sexuality and the environment.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, based at Columbia
University, polls teenagers on drug use and the presence of drugs in
schools. This year's random telephone survey of students ages 12 to 17 was
conducted between Dec. 27 and Feb. 6 by QEV Analytics. It has a margin of
error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

An accompanying survey of parents found them equally divided on their
children's drug habits: 44 percent said it's "not very likely" their child
will ever try illegal drugs, but 43 percent it's "very likely" or "somewhat
likely" that their kids will try them.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, by
the time they complete high school, 47 percent of teenagers have smoked
marijuana, 24 percent have used another illicit drug, and 81 percent have
drunk alcohol. The agency also estimates that 70 percent have smoked
cigarettes.