Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: Log Cabin Democrat (AR)
Copyright: 2002 The Log Cabin Democrat
Contact:  http://thecabin.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/548

TEENS SAY IT'S NOT HARD TO BUY MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy 
than cigarettes or beer -- one in three say they can find it in a matter of 
hours -- but only 25 percent admit trying it, a national survey finds.

When the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse polled 1,000 
teens last winter, 27 percent said they could buy marijuana in an hour or 
less; another 8 percent said it would take a few hours. But for the first 
time since the study began in 1996, teenagers said it was easier to buy 
marijuana than cigarettes or beer.

The annual survey didn't specify whether drugs are easy or difficult to buy 
at school, but 63 percent of students said their schools are "drug-free," 
nearly double the number who said the same in 1998. It's the highest 
percentage since 1996.

While many have criticized nationally used anti-drug programs such as 
D.A.R.E., educators said years of using such programs seem to be paying off.

"I think we're starting to see the fruition of some of those programs," 
said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of 
Secondary School Principals.

He said student drug use has been dropping for the past four or five years 
as communities began financing anti-drug programs. "There has been a sense 
that the drug problem, while not solved, has been improving," he said.

More than half of students said they don't drink alcohol in a typical week, 
and about as many said they have never had a drink.

While one in four pupils said at least one parent smokes cigarettes, 69 
percent said they have never smoked.

Joel Willen, principal of Pershing Middle School in Houston, said teachers 
and administrators are seeing less drug activity at school. "I think the 
kids are not bringing whatever it is they're doing, if they're doing it, to 
school," he said.

Pershing's drug-prevention programs are paired with a get-tough policy on 
drugs that includes twice-yearly, random locker and backpack searches by 
drug-sniffing dogs, Willen said. Students caught using or selling drugs can 
be sent to an alternative school or even expelled.

"They know we take a real hard line on drugs," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens