HW/OFF: "musicians made drug use look tempting?" ^_~ =koff=

[DASLUD at AOL.COM]

Study Finds Teens Drug Use Leveling Off

By LARRY McSHANE
.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (Nov. 22) - The latest survey from the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America finds that drug use among teen-agers' is leveling off, with more
teens rejecting the notion that drugs are cool.

``This trend means we have to keep up our efforts,'' said Barry McCaffrey,
director of the White House drug control policy office. ``The teen-age notion
that everyone is doing drugs and that there must be something wrong with me
has to be dispelled.''

The 12th annual survey, released today, shows that 40 percent of teens
questioned felt ``really cool'' kids did not use drugs. By comparison, 35
percent of those surveyed in 1998 agreed with that statement, indicating more
kids are turned off by drugs now than before.

Among 13- to 15-year-olds, 8 percent believed marijuana smokers were popular,
down from 13 percent last year and 17 percent in 1997, the survey found.

The survey found other evidence that the role of drugs in teen culture was
dissipating:

Thirty-five percent of teens felt that ``most people will try marijuana
sometime,'' down from 40 percent a year ago.

The number of teens agreeing with the statement ``it seems like marijuana is
everywhere these days'' dropped to 48 percent this year, down from 52 percent
last year and 59 percent in 1997.

While 48 percent of teens last year felt musicians made drug use look
tempting, that figure was down to 42 percent this year.

Trial use of marijuana, inhalants, methamphetamine, LSD, cocaine and crack
were all down. The dropoff in cocaine and crack trial use was the first since
1993.

``The tide appears to be turning,'' said Partnership chairman James E. Burke.
``Across the board ... teen-agers are disassociating drugs from critically
important badges of teen identity.''

But Burke said the war against drugs was far from over: ``It's too early to
declare a major turnaround in drug-related attitudes and drug use.''

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a non-profit
coalition of communications industry professionals aimed at reducing the
demand for illegal drugs.

Its latest survey questioned 6,529 teens aged 13-to-18 nationwide. The
survey's margin of error was plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.

AP-NY-11-22-99 0227EST

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  All active
hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.