MORE STUDENTS SAY SCHOOLS DRUG FREE

Yet Survey Finds Marijuana Easier To Get Than Beer

WASHINGTON -- The percentage of students between ages 12 and 17 who
perceive that their schools are "drug free" has nearly doubled in the last
four years to 63 percent, even though students said for the first time that
it is easier to get marijuana than cigarettes or beer, according a private
national survey released yesterday.

Like many drug surveys, the one by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University was filled with good and bad news.
On the positive side, the director of the study speculated that an
information campaign linking drug dealers with terrorists has made drug use
less appealing after the Sept. 11 attacks and, as a result, that has
improved students' perceptions of their schools as drug free. But officials
said the study is disturbing because marijuana continues to be easily
available, even though marijuana use may have slightly declined. In one
example, teenagers said marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or beer.
Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed said they could acquire marijuana in
an hour or less. It was the first time since the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse began its annual survey in 1996 that
marijuana was said to be easier to acquire than cigarettes or beer.

Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said it was easiest to obtain
marijuana, compared to 31 percent who said cigarettes and 14 percent who
said beer.

One-fourth of those surveyed said they had tried marijuana. Separately, a
federal study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that
47 percent of teenagers have smoked marijuana by the time they leave high
school.

The most heartening finding for antidrug advocates was the conclusion that
63 percent of those surveyed believe they attend drug-free schools. Four
years ago, 31 percent of those surveyed said their schools were drug free.

The report did not say why the number of drug-free schools has increased so
dramatically, but it said students at drug-free schools were twice as
likely to report seeing a student using or selling illegal drugs. Joseph
Califano, who oversaw the study as president of the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse, said the new perception may stem from a
combination of increased educational campaigns and a changed national
attitude following the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Most kids buy drugs from classmates, and this issue of being 'unpatriotic'
or 'helping terrorists' may be cooling off the classmate drug sellers,"
Califano said. "They [drug dealers] may just not be as acceptable since
Sept. 11. And parents may be more engaged in kids' lives since Sept. 11.
I'm speculating. We really don't know for sure, but it is probably some of
all of those things."

Glen Hanson, acting director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a
federal agency, said it is not clear whether students perceive a school to
be "drug free" only because there are signs proclaiming drug-free zones.
But he said it is clear that increased education about the dangers of drug
abuse has had an effect.

While lauding the improvements, Hanson cautioned that marijuana is still
very easy to get at many schools."

Because one person says, 'My school is drug free,' that probably doesn't
mean there never has been a marijuana cigarette smoked on the playground,"
Hanson said.

Since access to beer and cigarettes is restricted at the retail stage,
Hanson said, youths have significant hurdles to obtaining them."

As far as marijuana is concerned, there is not any control there," he said.
"If you want it, you can get it. That is not good news."

The survey was based on a telephone poll of 1,000 students conducted from
December 2001 to February 2002. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.