
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994                    TAG: 9406020064 
SECTION: DAILY BREAK                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY AUTUMN HARRIS, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: 940603                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T EXPECT STUDENTS TO TELL TRUTH ABOUT DRUG USE

{LEAD} SURVEYS BY THE National Institute on Drug Abuse show that drug use among teens has been steadily declining for the past 10 years but that the trend is being reversed.

I think the surveys are wrong and that drug use has and always will be high among teenagers. I believe that not all students who answered the surveys were honest.

{REST} When I took a drug survey in eighth grade, I was encouraged by my classmates to lie. The survey read like a confession, asking when we did drugs and how often we did them. The people I knew who used drugs didn't want to risk being caught.

On the other hand, I overheard people in the hallways talking about a different type of lying. They indicated on the surveys that they had done drugs that they never had and sometimes had never even heard of. It was cool and a big joke to laugh about among friends.

The real users would never hand in something that exposed them to an authority figure as a drug user, no matter how much confidentiality was promised. It's a secret that a lot of people won't part with.

Naturally, these surveys cause concern among parents. But most teens probably are not concerned.

A lot of teens who use drugs don't think what they're doing is wrong. They know it's illegal, but they justify their use of drugs with all sorts of rumors. They believe that what they're doing isn't that bad.

Marijuana has a lot of strange rumors attached to it. People think it's not as bad as cigarettes. Yet the deep inhalation of ``getting high'' is as bad for you as five times as many cigarettes, according to one UCLA study.

Other people really think that marijuana is a possible cure for AIDS and cancer, but there is no medical proof of this. In fact, inhaling anything into your lungs when you have a weak immune system is dangerous.

Hemp, a fiber from the stem of marijuana plants, does make an excellent substitute for trees in the textile industry. And there have been a few medical breakthroughs with marijuana, such as its use to treat glaucoma.

But the fact is, teenagers smoke marijuana to get high, not to cure a problem. Teens will continue with their drug lust. Whether the surveys go up or down, drugs will be in demand among a percentage of America's youth. And probably more than you think.

by CNB