Drug Use Drops Among Youths, Survey Finds

Drug use among teenagers fell about 15% last year to about 1 in 10 adolescents, but use among young adults rose to its highest level since 1989, a government study indicated Wednesday.

Among the 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed in 1998, about 10% said that they had used drugs in the previous month, down from about 11.5% in the year before. Federal officials pointed to the findings as a clear sign that the country has “turned the corner” in the war on drugs.

Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, and Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, announced the findings as part of the department’s annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

“Two years ago I noted that we were starting to see a glimmer of hope,” Shalala said. “Today, that glimmer of hope is burning bright enough that we can say: In the battle against illicit drugs, we’ve turned the corner.”

But some experts cautioned that a one-year drop in drug use among teens does not signal a downward trend that will continue.

And other sections of the report suggest that the government is not out of the woods yet.

Drug use among 18- to 25-year-olds increased about 10% from 1997 to 1998, according to the study. About 16% of young adults said that they had used drugs in the previous month, compared with about 14.5% in the previous year’s survey.

In addition to marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs, the study looked at alcohol, cigarettes and chewing tobacco use. The report found that teens who smoke are 11 times as likely to use drugs and 16 times as likely to drink heavily as nonsmoking youths.

Officials said that they are most concerned about a potential rise in methamphetamine use because of the drug’s increasing availability.

Among Americans of all ages, the number of illicit drug users remained relatively constant at 13.6 million people, the survey found. Marijuana continued to be the most popular illicit drug by a wide margin, with about 11 million people saying that they had used it in the previous month, six times the number of cocaine users.

Given the report’s mixed results, officials expressed hope that the issue of drug abuse will remain high on the national agenda. President Clinton said in a statement that the government must not cut back on its billion-dollar drug awareness media campaign “just as it is making an impact.”

Drug education groups said that one-year declines are a poor indicator of overall substance abuse trends. Officials at the Drug Policy Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that opposes current government drug policies, noted that the report cites figures showing teenage substance abuse has fluctuated erratically in recent years. Drug use among teens dropped about 20% from 1995 to 1996 before rising 25% the following year, according to the report.

“We can’t look at one-year results and fight youth drug use in such narrow increments,” said Rob Stewart, an analyst at the foundation. “Washington budgets in annual increments, but social trends don’t move in that way.”

Stewart said the overall trend shows that drug awareness programs, such as Just Say No and Drug Abuse Resistance Education, have little effect on teenage drug use.

McCaffrey attributed last year’s decline in adolescent drug use to a “team effort” by government, parents, educators and community groups.

He echoed Clinton’s previous statements that the government must step up its anti-drug programs to ensure that teenage substance abuse does not increase.

Some experts who study drug use said that they were not surprised at the study’s figures showing more young adults using drugs.

Lloyd Johnston, director of the University of Michigan’s annual study of substance abuse, said that many young people used drugs during their teenageyears and have carried the habit into adulthood.

After steady declines in the late 1980s, rates of drug use among teens increased more than 200% from 1992 to 1995 as the government scaled back drug education and awareness programs. Johnston said that federal efforts can be effective, particularly with teenagers who already perceive drugs as risky.

The survey of 25,500 people also examined drug use levels in California and Arizona because both states passed legislation in 1996 that allows marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes. Marijuana use in those two states typically has been above the national average and the study did not find an increase in use in the wake of the new state laws.

About 78 million Americans have used illegal drugs at some point in their lives, the study found. Roughly 14 million are current users, about half of the peak in 1979.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Most Popular Drug

Marijuana is the most commonly used drug among the nation’s 13.6 million illicit drug users.

What They Use

* Marijuana only: 60%

* A drug other than marijuana: 19%

* Marijuana and some other drug: 21%

Source:Department of Health and Human Services