Source: San Franclsco Examiner Author: Roberto Suro, Washington Post Pubdate: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 Page: A 13 Contact: 8THGRADE POT, TOBACCO USE DROPS BUT SURVEY SHOWS USE IN HIGHER GRADES Washington After six years of steady increases, rates of marijuana use and tobacco smoking may be leveling off among young adolescents as slightly more eighthgraders seem to have a greater awareness of the dangers associated with those activities, according to an annual federal survey of high school students released Saturday. "This change in attitudes represents a glimmer of hope in our efforts to protect our children from drugs, but our work is far from over," President Clinton said Saturday, commenting on the survey results in his weekly radio address. As a statistical matter, the changes were too small to be significant, and also largely were confined to eighthgraders, the youngest age group surveyed. Marijuana use and cigarette smoking still are on the rise among 10th and 12thgraders, according to the 1997 Monitoring the Future study. "It is a complicated story this year, because not all the trend line are moving in the same direction said Lloyd Johnston, chief re searcher on the study, which has been conducted under federal grants for 23 years by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. "The good news is that we are beginning to see greater appreciation of the risks among the young teens, and that should translate into decreased drug abuse in the next few years, but that still leaves us at very high levels of teen drug use, twice what they were in the early 1990 in some cases," Johnston said. Rep. Rob Portman, ROhio, disagreed with Clinton's conclusions about the survey. In the GOP weekly radio address, Portman said, "This is not the time to take comfort in a report that confirms these unacceptable levels. While it's better than last year, remember it still represents a failing grade." The druguse epidemic that began in the late 1960s reached a peak in the mid1980s, according to a variety of measures. Then, reported drug use dropped sharply among teenagers as perceptions of the risks increased. But in the early 1990s, reported drug use began to pick up again. The percentage of 12thgraders reporting the use of any illicit drug during the previous year in the Monitoring the Future survey increased steadily from 27.1 percent in 1992 to 40.2 percent in 1996 and this year rose to 42.4 percent. Tenthgraders reported a similar steady increase in the use of illicit drugswhich include marijuana, cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens, but not alcohol or cigarettes. At the same time that their use of drugs was growing, their concern about the potential risks of drug use declined. For example, fewer than 25 percent of the high school seniors surveyed said that occasional marijuana use posed "great risks"about the same level as in 1996, but well below the 1991 survey, in which more than 40 percent of the seniors expressed such concerns. By contrast, eighthgraders reversed direction. The youngest teenagers tracked their older counterparts through 1996. In 1991, 6.2 percent reported smoking marijuana in the previous year. By 1996, 18.3 percent made a similar statement. But in the 1997 survey, that figure dropped a fraction to 17.7 percent. Similarly the percentage of eighthgraders reporting that regular marijuana. use involves risks physical and otherwise rose from 70.9 percent last year to 72.7 percent in 1997. Although the changes are too small to be statistically significant, Johnston and other researchers believe the data may indicate a trend. "The relapse of the 1990s may have stalled or at least slowed down," Johnston said. In addition to Monitoring the Future, several other major studies this year showed that teen drug use was the same or lower than last year, in contrast to the steady increases recorded in the previous five or six years. The survey also reported that tobacco use among eighthgraders fell last year after steadily increasing throughout the 1990s, remained about the same among 10thgraders and increased among seniors. The 1997 Monitoring the Future survey involved the results of anonymous questionnaires completed by 51,000 eighth, 10th and 12thgrade students at 495 high schools nationwide. Figures from the annual teen drug abuse survey released Saturday: * MARIJUANA: The percentage of students who used marijuana in the past year and past month remained unchanged this year among 8th 10th and 12thgrade students. Daily use by eighthgraders decreased to 1.1 percent this year from 1.5 percent in 1996. Daily use among seniors increased to 5.8 percent in 1597 from 4.9 percent last year. * COCAINE: The rate of students who used cocaine remained steady for all three grade levels surveyed. Lifetime use of cocaine in all forms increased among 12thgraders. Seniors who had used cocaine at least once increased to 8.7 percent this year from 7.1 percent in 1936. * HEROIN: Use among eighthgraders decreased to 1.3 percent this year from 1.6 percent in 1996. 2.1 percent of ail three grades surveyed reported having used heroin at least once in their lifetime. * CIGARETTES: The percentage of eighthgrade students who said they smoked heavily decreased. Eighthgraders who smoked a halfpack of cigarettes or more per day decreased to 3 5 percent, from 4.3 percent Seniors who used cigarettes in the past month increased to 36.5 percent this year from 34.0 percent last year. * ALCOHOL: Eighthgraders who reported having been drunk in the past 30 days decreased to 8.2 percent this year from 9.6 percent in 1996. 10thgraders reporting having been drunk daily increased to 0.6 percent in 1997 from 0.4 percent in 1996 12thgraders who used alcohol in the past year increased to 74.8 percent this year, from 72.5 percent in 1996.