TEENS: POT EASIER TO BUY THAN BEER

A third agree they can find it quickly; most say schools drug-free

WASHINGTON - Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or
beer -- a third 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; an
additional 8 percent said it would take a few hours. For the first time
since the study began in 1996, teens said it was easier to buy pot 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
D.A.R.E., 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.

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 12-17 was
conducted Dec. 27-Feb. 6 by QEV Analytics. It has a margin of error of plus
or minus 3.1 percentage points.