Source: Dallas Morning News Contact: Pubdate: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 Author contact: (David LaGesse) Website: http://www.dallasnews.com Juniorhigh students' drug use rising, survey finds By David LaGesse / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON A new survey shows that drug use among juniorhigh students continues to climb, reinforcing fears that young teenagers remain vulnerable to a new wave of drug abuse. The rise in teenage drug use, however, appeared to be slowing compared with steeper rises shown in recent years, according to the survey conducted by Pride, an Atlantabased drugawareness organization. "We are beginning to see some signs of progress in reducing teenage drug use," said Doug Hall, a Pride senior consultant. Overall, substance abuse among juniorhigh school students reached its highest levels in the 10 years that Pride has taken the survey. Pride said 141,077 students in 28 states responded to the questionnaire. Students in grades six through eight reported increases in the monthly use of most illicit drugs, according to the survey conducted by Pride. The survey showed that 11.4 percent of juniorhigh students used illicit narcotics monthly during this school year, compared with 10.9 percent in 19951996. But the rise was slower than the increases in recent years that have nearly doubled teenage drug abuse compared with 199091. The surging drug use among kids has drawn national attention and new spending programs, including $235 million approved by Congress for Clinton administration initiatives. The Pride review showed that monthly drug use remained essentially flat among seniorhigh students in the last year after sharper increases earlier this decade. "Drug use by children is up but it may have turned the corner this year," said drug czar Barry McCaffrey. Alcohol and cigarette use, however, rose among seniorhigh students this year. "Of all the drug categories we studied, cigarettes and liquor showed the strongest increases," said Mr. Hall. About 54.9 percent of students in grades nine through 12 had used liquor sometime in the past year, compared with 53.4 percent the year before, according to the survey. Cigarette use rose similarly among all senior high students to 50.2 percent from 48.2 percent. Pride officials said marketing programs by tobacco and alcohol companies, as well as social trends, probably contributed to the higher use among students. Manufacturers and distillers deny targeting kids with marketing programs, but tobacco companies agreed to spend millions of dollars to counter youthful smoking as part of recent court settlements with states. Juniorhigh students also showed increased use of cigarettes and liquor but less than the older students. As in past years, the Pride survey showed drug use at higher levels than one other wellknown student survey, the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which is conducted for the Health and Human Services Department. Pride's survey, for example, showed that 18.3 percent of children kids aged 12 to 17 used any illicit drug monthly in contrast to 9 percent for the household survey. A third survey, the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Monitoring the Future survey, has not released figures for the 199697 school year. Since 199091, eighthgrade students have nearly doubled their use of illicit drugs, according to the Pride survey. Thirteen percent of eighth graders said they had used an illicit drug in the 199091 school year which climbed to 27.9 percent this year. Seniorhigh students showed also showed an increase, but not as steep from 24.8 percent in 199091 to 41.6 percent in 199697. "This is our second drug epidemic in America," said Sen. Joseph Biden, DDel., who joined the Pride officials in releasing the survey results. The greater use among younger students, and among students compared to adults, has made this last wave of rising drug abuse different than earlier waves, Mr. Hall said. "In the past, it began among the adult population and sort of filtered down to the young population," he said. Pride and administration officials said the key to stopping the problem was better efforts by parents to discourage substance abuse. "The heart and soul of this effort is your parents," Mr. McCaffrey said.