Pubdate: Fri, 19 Aug 2005
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Rebecca  Carroll, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

TEENS SAY MORE DRUGS AVAILABLE AT  SCHOOLS

Chances To Use Rise As Access Increases

WASHINGTON -- More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and 
those who have access to them are more likely to try them, according to a 
Columbia University survey released yesterday.

Twenty-eight percent of responding middle school students reported that 
drugs are used, kept, or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since 
2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National 
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41 
percent in the past three years, to 62 percent, the survey said. Twelve-to 
17-year-olds who report that there are drugs in their schools are three 
times as likely to try marijuana and twice as likely to drink alcohol 
than  teens who say their schools are drug-free, the survey showed. 
"Availability is the mother of use," said Joseph Califano Jr., the center's 
president. "We really are putting an enormous number of 12- to 17-year-olds 
at  great risk."

Most of the teens surveyed, 58 percent, said the legality of cigarettes has 
no effect on their decision to smoke or abstain, and 48 percent said the 
fact that marijuana is illegal doesn't affect whether they use the drug. 
The survey found that teens who viewed drugs as morally wrong were 
significantly less likely to try them, as were those who thought their 
parents  would be "extremely upset" to discover drug use.

The report found that teens who confided in their parents were at much 
lower risk of drug abuse than teens who turn first to another adult. "It 
really shouts to parents: You cannot outsource your responsibility to law 
enforcement or the schools," Califano said. "I think when parents feel as 
strongly about drugs in the schools as they do about asbestos in the 
schools, we'll start getting the drugs out of the schools."

The survey also found that teens who say they watch three or more R-rated 
movies a month, about 43 percent, are seven times as likely to smoke 
cigarettes and five times as likely to try alcohol than teens who do not 
watch R-rated movies. The correlation between R-rated movie-watching and 
the risk of substance abuse remains even after controlling for age, the 
report said. "There's no question the correlation is very strong, and it 
obviously wants further study," Califano said.

The survey was conducted by phone and involved 1,000 randomly selected 
youths who are 12 to 17 years old and 829 parents. Twenty-six percent of 
the teens said  someone nearby could hear their answers. The margin of 
sampling error is 3.1  percentage points for the teens and 3.4 percentage 
points for the parents.
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MAP posted-by: Beth