CHILDREN HEED PARENTS' DRUG-ABUSE ADVICE

THE ISSUE - Teenagers say buying marijuana is easier than buying beer or
cigarettes, according to a national survey.

TEENAGERS for the first time say it is easier for them to buy marijuana than
beer or cigarettes, and they are trying marijuana in increasing numbers,
according to a national survey of a thousand 12-to-17-year-olds. The report
says too many parents have helped make the problem as bad as it is by doing
nothing, failing to realize and exert their influence in positive ways.

The importance of parents and older siblings influencing teenagers --
especially during their most impressionable years before age 15 -- is
heightened by the ease with which teens can illegally acquire these
substances. Twenty-seven percent of the teens said they could buy marijuana
in an hour or less, and an additional 8 percent said it would take them a
few hours -- less time than it would take for minors to arrange purchase of
beer or cigarettes.

The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse says 25
percent of teenagers report having tried marijuana, up from 21 percent two
years ago. The extent of Hawaii teenagers' use of marijuana, alcohol and
tobacco previously has been reported to be greater than national levels.
That should motivate families in the islands to play a larger role in
teenagers' process of deciding whether to try substances that pose a risk to
their health.

Families should take particular note that teenagers report being influenced
by their parents, but the parents claim helplessness. More than a third of
the 541 parents surveyed agree that they have little influence over their
teens' decisions about using tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs. Forty-three
percent of the parents -- but only 16 percent of the teens themselves -- say
future illegal drug use by their teenage children is likely. However, in a
2000 survey, nearly half of the teens who had not tried marijuana credited
their parents for their decision to abstain.

Siblings also may not realize the important role they play in their
brothers' or sisters' decision about whether to try harmful substances.
Two-thirds of the teenagers surveyed said their older brothers or sisters
would be "very angry" to find out they were using marijuana. That
expectation places those teens at a substantially lower risk of substance
abuse than those who think their older siblings would not be very angry,
according to the report.

Nearly half of the teens with older siblings say they think they have tried
illegal drugs; consequently, those teens are one-and-a-half times more
likely than the average teen to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs. The
likelihood doubles when the older sibling offers illegal drugs to the
teenager or encourages their use.