DRUG, ALCOHOL USE BY YOUNG FALLS DURING YEAR

WASHINGTON - Drug, alcohol and cigarette use among sixth-to 12th-graders is
at the lowest level in years, partly because adults are doing more to keep
their kids away from illicit substances, according to a survey released
Wednesday.

Parents and teachers are warning students about drug use and encouraging
kids to nurture other interests by joining extracurricular school and
religious activities, the 2001-02 Pride Survey said.

The percentage of students using any illicit drug -- including marijuana,
cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and others -- dropped to 22.3 percent, the
lowest level registered by the study since the 1993-94 school year.

The percentages of high school students who said they drank alcohol, 65
percent, or smoked cigarettes, 36 percent, in the previous 12 months were
the lowest in the 15-year history of the Pride Surveys.

The results, from data collected between August 2001 and last month, are
the "best report on adolescent behaviors in over a decade" and may reflect
a cultural reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said.

Following the attacks, "Americans seemed to refocus on family, community,
spirituality and nation," said survey author Thomas Gleaton. "That renewed
awareness shows up in the data."

"The Sept. 11 attacks sent shock waves through our nation's schools just as
kids were beginning their school year," said John Walters, director of
National Drug Control Policy. "This year's Pride Survey suggests that young
Americans may be taking their lives and communities more seriously by
saying no to drugs."

The survey was conducted at schools that contracted with Pride Surveys to
question students during the 2001-02 academic year.

A 1998 federal law named the Atlanta-based survey as a measure of the
effectiveness of White House drug policy.

In the 2000-01 survey, the percentage of 12th-graders who used an illicit
drug in the previous 12 months had remained constant for the fifth straight
year at about 41 percent. This year's survey, however, shows a decline to
37 percent.

Kids who are warned away from drugs and encouraged to engage in
extracurricular activities are less likely to take drugs, the survey found.

The national survey found some signs, however, that certain drugs have
taken firm hold among teens.

Among sixth-through eighth-graders, the use of cocaine, downers and heroin
was unchanged for annual and monthly use. Monthly inhalant and hallucinogen
use also remained level, the survey said.

Among 12th-graders, the monthly use of cocaine, heroin and steroids
remained the same, according to the survey.