cannabisnews.com: Teen Drug Use Declining, Study Shows Teen Drug Use Declining, Study Shows Posted by CN Staff on December 16, 2002 at 07:58:12 PT By The Associated Press Source: Associated Press American teenagers are cutting their use of illicit drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, said an annual survey for the government released Monday. The downside: A large number of young people are still using drugs, said Lloyd D. Johnston, who directed the study by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. "There's a smorgasbord of drugs that are out there," said Johnston. "Very few drugs leave the table, but there are always new ones being discovered and put forward, like Ecstasy."Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a synthetic drug considered part hallucinogen and part amphetamine that has been linked to brain, heart and kidney damage. It became popular over the past decade at dance parties known as raves for the energy and euphoria it gives users.The survey of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders has been done for the Department of Health and Human Services for 28 years.Results from the 2002 Monitoring the Future study showed more than half of 12th graders have used an illicit drug. Thirty percent of 12th-graders have used some drug other than marijuana, and 11 percent have used Ecstasy.Still, those figures are down from recent years. For example, Ecstasy use among 10th-graders in the past year declined from 6.2 percent to 4.9 percent."As youngsters came to see it as more dangerous to use, they moved away from it," Johnston said. In 2002, 52 percent of 12th-graders noted a great risk of harm associated with Ecstasy, up 14 percentage points from 2000 figures.The survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, tracked illicit drug use and attitudes among 44,000 students from 394 schools. Findings include: * Percentages of 8th- and 10th-graders using any illicit drug declined and were at their lowest level since 1993 and 1995, respectively.* Marijuana use decreased among 10th graders, and in the past year, the rate of use of 14.6 percent among 8th-graders was the lowest level since 1994, and well below the recent peak of 18.3 percent in 1996. Roughly 30.3 percent of 10th graders reported marijuana use in 2002, compared with 34.8 percent in 1997.* LSD use decreased significantly among 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders. LSD use by 12th-graders reached the lowest point in the last 28 years.* Use of cocaine and heroin remained stable.* Cigarette smoking decreased in each grade, expanding on a recent trend. There has been a 50 percent decline since its peak year in 1996.John Walters, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the survey shows that drug prevention efforts are working."Drug use by our young people is headed down to levels that we haven't seen in years," Walters said. "This is very good news for communities across America." Source: Associated Press Published: Monday, December 16, 2002Copyright: 2002 Associated Press CannabisNews NIDA Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NIDA.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #14 posted by joe minella on December 17, 2002 at 22:10:38 PT: teendrug use declining All these "statistics" and "trends" are based entirely on nothing more than thousands of government telephone interviews asking questions about drug use. So a stranger calls and asks you, or your kid, "Have you done drugs/what drugs/how much/how often?", and we are basing a huge 50 billion dollar disaster of a drug war solely on the supposed veracity of the responses to these questions! And this at a time of unprecedented expenditure by ONDCP, of millions of taxpayer dollars in a massive propaganda effort to further "demonize and marginalize" anyone not in total harmony with the monumentally disastrous "zero tolerance" policies of the last 30 years? Actually, unbelievably, that is precisely the case. If these silly numbers indicate anything, it's that our own government, using our own money, can and does manipulate and intimidate all of us. The National Academy of Sciences has called it "Unconscionable" to continue current anti-drug policies ( stuffing prisons full of people of color hoping that that will have some salutory effect on the vast majority of drug users who are white), without putting in place some scientifically valid systems to measure their effectiveness. So far, the pleas of these scientists for the relative pittances they need in order to evaluate these hugely destructive policies have fallen on deaf ears in Congress. http://www4.nationalacademies.org/onpi/news.nsf/0a254cd9b53e0bc585256777004e74d3/2d9614e11fca855785256a1e004a5a3f?OpenDocument http://http://www4.nationalacademies.org/onpi/news.nsf/0a254cd9b53e0bc5852567770 [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 16, 2002 at 20:46:32 PT Jerr-man That's a good point about why Bars are always full. About parenting I just don't know how the economy would play into that. Some people would be so stressed out if they couldn't handle their family bills they might not be able to pay close attention because of being so distracted by worry about parenting. In a perfect world being home more would help with parenting but the problem is parents are human and make mistakes. There is no school to teach a person how to be a good parent. You learn as you go. That's just my opinion. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Jerr-man on December 16, 2002 at 20:28:54 PT FoM touched on economy Wondering how the economy plays a part in teen drug use.It seems to me a crappy economy would leave more parents home thus keeping a closer eye on their children.Of course,a bar owner once told me he had the perfect business because "when times are good - people celebrate" and "when times are bad - people drowned their sorrows".So I guess my two cents may only be worth a penny. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by The GCW on December 16, 2002 at 19:42:50 PT Alvin Cool gets a bulls - eye. Wouldn't a 50% decline in cigarette smoking show us that a simple public based campain without the threat of jail produce better results than the minor reductions you see for cannabis? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by knox42897 on December 16, 2002 at 18:39:54 PT: DELUSIONS GRANDOUR Walter's suffers from delusions grandour of a drug free America [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by BGreen on December 16, 2002 at 18:20:57 PT Margin of Error???????????????????? This vital piece of information is not only missing from ALL of the media stories, it's also not mentioned on ANY of the governments' websites, either. Lloyd D. Johnston, from monitoringthefuture.org, conveniently leaves this information off his website and every press release touting these latest numbers.I believe the choice of the five different comparative years is to try to get the numbers as close as possible to figures that wouldn't define them as "statistically insignificant," but when the true margin of error numbers are withheld, it's nearly impossible to draw any kind of educated conclusion.Apparently, most prohibitionists prefer to NOT to think. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on December 16, 2002 at 17:28:42 PT Drug Use Statistics Drug use is down so it must be working so we need more money to continue like we are. orDrug use is up and we need to work harder to get drug use down so we need more money.My thoughts. Drug use goes up and down because life cycles. Children don't want to do what parents like to do so if parents smoke cannabis their children probably won't and vice versus.Times of stress in a society particularly when the economy isn't doing well will promote more stay at home and that 'take a trip and never leave the farm' attitude but when times are prosperious vacations can make a person escape reality because they have money and drugs become less important.Human nature is one that we need to alter our consciousness . [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by The C-I-R-C-L-E on December 16, 2002 at 17:07:42 PT Numbers numbers numbers These reports always remind me of sports reporting. It's an attempt to drown someone in statistics."And for the fourth straight year the third most-used drug has decreased one-fifth, down to only 30% for 12-15 year-olds. This after spending $4 billion in education - a 17% increase since 5 years ago which represented a 12-year low...blah Blah BLAH"Also notice how the AP decides which years get compared to, in order to "stroke the data." They use FIVE DIFFERENT YEARS FOR COMPARISON: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997. That's how hard they hafta try to make it seem as though we're progressing.Just picture them desperately scouring the past studies for numbers to dress up this year's results with.I got an idea, let us choose the comparison years and let's see the difference.(And of course, as mentioned below, according the general U.S. adult sentiment we can't trust teens to be responsible people or can't trust what they say, do or think. BUT we can base entire national policy on some surveys done by those same teens. How does this work again? Oh that's right, IT DOESN'T WORK.) [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Ethan Russo MD on December 16, 2002 at 16:51:59 PT: AlvinCool You know more than the government! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by AlvinCool on December 16, 2002 at 16:14:44 PT Stats * Cigarette smoking decreased in each grade, expanding on a recent trend. There has been a 50 percent decline since its peak year in 1996.Interesting observation Dr. Russo. Wouldn't a 50% decline in cigarette smoking show us that a simple public based campain without the threat of jail produce better results than the minor reductions you see for cannabis? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on December 16, 2002 at 09:22:42 PT Fact or media/politico fantasy? Another article taking one federal survey as gospel.As I have pointed out time and time again, how accurate do you think these NIDA studies are? How do you think most 16 year old kids would answer when a representative of the federal government comes to their house, and asks them to enter information on their drug use into a laptop computer? It's simple - they will VASTLY under-report legal and illegal drug use.NIDA surveys show that about 33% of Americans have used cannabis. The Time/CNN survey, which involved asking questions over the telephone by someone identifying themselves as Time/CNN, revealed that 47% of Americans have tried cannabis. And that's probably still too low. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by knox42897 on December 16, 2002 at 09:17:48 PT: VERY GOOD NEWS "As youngsters came to see it as more dangerous to use, they moved away from it," Johnston said* Use of cocaine and heroin remained stable.American teenagers are cutting their use of illicit drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, said an annual survey for the government released Monday. When were cigarettes and alcohol illicit?"Drug use by our young people is headed down to levels that we haven't seen in years," Walters said. Kinda like the stock market, up then down. "This is very good news for communities across America." said the dilusional schizophrenic nazi WaltersVery good news??? Cocaine and Heroin levels remained the same = build more prisons [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo MD on December 16, 2002 at 08:13:59 PT: Dual Purpose The government always has it both ways on this issue. If the numbers go up, repressive policies must be intensified to make them work. If the numbers go down, it is proof that similar effort must be continued.A good question for the Feds is: What information would ever cause you to question the War on Drugs, or believe that cannabis is medicine?There will never be an answer to these questions. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by WolfgangWylde on December 16, 2002 at 08:01:28 PT Don't believe a word... Quite frankly, I don't beleive a word of it. IMHO, the numbers go down when the Gov't needs them to, and up in the same manner. The Drug War has been under attack, both at the ballot box and in the popular culture, so they need numbers that show its working. Not very long ago (a year or 2, at most), the numbers were up, just at the time the Gov't was ramping up new spending in the Drug War. So of course, they needed the crisis to be as big as possible to justify the budget increase. I'm tellin' ya, its all BS. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment