THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130296
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Marijuana use among eighth-graders has more than doubled since 1991, and researchers blame a more relaxed attitude toward drug experimentation and abuse.
Twenty-five percent of eighth-graders said they had used an illicit drug at least once during their lifetimes, up from 22.5 percent last year, according to a University of Michigan survey released Monday. The 1994 figure rises to 35 percent when inhalants are included.
Thirteen percent of all eighth-graders surveyed said they had used marijuana at least once in the preceding 12 months. That was up sharply from 9.2 percent in 1993 and more than twice the 6.2 percent just three years ago.
Increases in use of harder drugs, such as LSD and other hallucinogens, stimulants, cocaine and crack, were less dramatic.
Although this year's overall abuse rates remain below those of the 1970s, there is clear evidence of a gradual upward swing, Lloyd D. Johnston, the study's lead researcher, said during a Washington news conference.
About 52,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders from 420 public and private secondary schools filled out questionnaires for the yearly survey.
Among the most alarming findings was evidence that drug abuse is growing among students who have not reached high school.
``We're talking about 13-year-olds,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said at a news conference. ``We're not just here to sound the alarm. We're here to issue a call to action. . . . We have a chance - right here and now - to lock arms and send a powerful anti-drug message to our children.''
The aggressive anti-drug messages of the 1980s have receded into the background, Johnston said. ``The arduously woven fabric of attitudes, beliefs and peer norms which brought about that decline (in the 1980s) is beginning to unravel,'' he said.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which sponsors advertising, sees fewer anti-drug news stories and television themes. ``Conversely, we're seeing drug abuse, and specifically marijuana use, talked about positively in rock and rap music, in television programming and in other areas like fashion.''
Drug abuse also is sending more people to hospitals for emergency care.
The number of drug-related emergency room cases increased 8 percent from 1992 to 1993, according to data gathered by Health and Human Services' Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Heroin-related emergency room visits increased by 31 percent in the same time period.
``Speed,'' or methamphetamine, sent 53 percent more people to emergency rooms.
Michigan's Institute for Social Research began studying teenage drug abuse rates in 1975.
It tracked an expansion of drug abuse into the late 1970s, a substantial decline that lasted through 1991, and a resurgence since then.
``The numbers really aren't that surprising, except for the maybe the eighth grade. A lot of the 10th graders I know do do drugs,'' said Micky York, a junior in Pembroke Hill High School, a Kansas City, Kan., private school.
``I would say definitely a fourth or more of the sophomore class at my school have used marijuana. . . . I know quite a few people who do it every weekend.''
And don't forget alcohol, said Joseph Podgorski, principal of Amherst Central High School in suburban Buffalo, N.Y.
The number of 10th graders who used marijuana during the 12 months before the study increased by two-thirds to 25 percent.
Among high school seniors, it increased by two-fifths to 31 percent.
``In addition, active daily use of marijuana climbed by even larger proportions, reaching 3.6 percent among high school seniors in 1994 - up by half from the 1993 level,'' the university said.
Almost 7 percent of seniors acknowledged use of LSD in the past year, while 3.6 percent said they had used cocaine and 2 percent crack cocaine.
The survey has an error margin of 1 to 2 percent. ILLUSTRATION: TEEN DRUG USE
AP Chart
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: DRUGS ILLEGAL DRUG ABUSE TEENAGERS SURVEY by CNB