THE FALL IN TEEN SMOKING

Good news arrives in the fight to keep young people off Joe Camel and other
brands: More of them are responding to a multifaceted campaign against
smoking. If this trend continues, they will become healthier adults and
live longer lives.

Teen-agers of all ages use tobacco less frequently than during the peak
years of the mid-to-late 1990s, according to the annual Monitoring the
Future survey, done by the University of Michigan for the federal government.

Other positive news from the survey: The use of Ecstasy, heroin and
dangerous inhalants has declined.

These reports still don't satisfy John P. Walters, director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy. Inappropriate drug use is not expanding as
it did in the early 1990s, he said, but too many people use drugs.
Teen-agers choose alcohol most often.

"It is time to make the anti-drug efforts catch up with the anti-tobacco
effort," he said.

No unified campaign exists against the abuse of alcohol by young people.
There is such a campaign against tobacco, involving health organizations,
youth advocacy groups and governments.

Research shows that young people also listen to parents who oppose tobacco
use. Unfortunately, too many parents look the other way when their children
are drinking or using illegal drugs. Many parents actually supply the liquor.

A forceful campaign against teen-age use of liquor -- one that targets
parents as well as their children -- could produce results similar to the
positive trends now seen in tobacco use.