TEEN DRUG SURVEY SHOWS PROGRESS AND CHALLENGE

When it comes to teenagers and drug use, progress is measured in
small steps and long trends.

Thus, there was reason for optimism in the results of the 2001
Monitoring the Future survey, a peek at teens' illicit habits that is
conducted annually for the government by the University of Michigan's
Institute for Social Research.

Responses from 44,300 teens in grades eight, 10 and 12 contained good
news and bad.

First the good. Teen smoking is down, falling to 10-year lows. Some
12.2 percent, 21.3 percent and 29.5 percent of eighth-, 10th- and
12th-graders, respectively, reported smoking in the 30 days prior to
the survey. All represent drops over last year and significant drops
from the highs of the last decade.

Heroin and inhalant use also dropped, and the steep increases in
Ecstasy use have slowed some. But there is still some bad news.

Alcohol remains the drug of choice for teens. And though fewer
eighth- graders reported having been drunk, a drop from 18.5 percent
to 16.6 percent, daily alcohol use by seniors increased from 2.9
percent to 3.6 percent. And steroid use by seniors also increased,
from 1.6 percent to 2.3 percent.

Those numbers serve as a reminder that while teens in general seem to
be making healthier choices these days, the temptations are still
plentiful.