Source: Arizona Republic (AZ) Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/news/ Pubdate: 22 August 1998 Author: Jeff Barker, Republic Washington Bureau STATE TEEN DRUG USE HIGHEST IN U.S. 'Study should cause alarm in every family' WASHINGTON - One out of six Arizona youths used illegal drugs in the past month -- especially marijuana -- a rate that is nearly double that of California and one-third higher than the national average. The numbers come from an annual nationwide federal study that honed in on Arizona and California this year because both states have approved so-called medical marijuana initiatives. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse released Friday found that 13.1 percent of Arizonans ages 12 to 17 said they had used marijuana in the past month. And 16.8 percent said they had used "any illicit drug," including cocaine, inhalants or heroin. Arizona's youth marijuana figure was more than one-third higher than the nation as a whole -- 9.6 percent -- and it was nearly double the rate of neighboring California -- 6.6 percent. "This study should cause alarm bells to go off in every family in Arizona," said Chuck Blanchard, chief counsel for Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the federal drug czar. McCaffrey released the report along with the Department of Health and Human Services. "This weekend, every Arizona parent should sit down and talk to their kids about drug use," said Blanchard, a former Arizona state senator. Analysts surprised The findings surprised government analysts, who have been compiling similar, nationwide surveys since 1971 but had never broken out Arizona figures individually until now. Arizona and California, which both passed medical marijuana initiatives in 1996, were selected as the first two states ever to undergo individual breakdowns as part of the national drug survey. The Clinton administration conceded that, with limited money available for individual state sampling, it intentionally picked the two states that passed drug-legalization measures that it opposed. Arizona's Proposition 200 was designed to allow physicians to prescribe marijuana or other controlled substances to seriously ill patients. This year, its backers moved to put the issue back on the ballot after the state Legislature, in effect, suspended it. McCaffrey has been lobbying against Proposition 200 and similar measures in other states, saying the propositions send a mixed message to youths. 'Looking at impact' However, the Clinton administration denied it was using its drug-use survey to try to make a case against medical use of marijuana. "This is not arguing for or against, it's just looking at what the potential impact is (of medical marijuana initiatives). It's to look at trends," said Mark Weber, a substance-abuse spokesman for Health and Human Services. At least publicly, the Clinton administration did not attempt to make a correlation between the survey's Arizona marijuana figures and Proposition 200. However, an internal document from the federal drug czar's office suggested that it believes there may be a link. The document highlights the survey and notes its finding that the perceived risk of smoking marijuana is lower for both Californians and Arizonans than for Americans generally. Results 'consistent' The document notes that this "is consistent with what would be expected, given the passage of the medical marijuana propositions in these two states." However, the document says there is simply too little evidence to reach any conclusion. The percentage of youth and adult Arizonans who perceived "great risk" in smoking marijuana once a month was 39.9 percent for Arizona, and 37.6 percent for California. The national figure, excluding those two states, was 43.5 percent. "The issue about whether the proposition would have any effect on youth attitudes is an open issue," Blanchard said. "The idea was, "These are two states and we might as well test to find out. But the evidence is inconclusive. California has lower marijuana use among youths than the national sample." The survey said that Arizona's general population, not just youths, also use drugs at a higher rate than the nation, but not by as alarming a margin as teens alone. In Arizona, 7.3 percent said they used an illegal drug in the past month, compared with 5.8 percent nationally. Overall use steady The overall use of illegal drugs in the country remained steady last year, the report said, while reporting a significant increase in drug use among youth 12-17 nationally -- to 11.4 percent in 1997 from 9 percent in 1996. The drug czar's office, as well as at least one private group, said the lesson was to spend more time trying to lessen drug demand by educating kids and parents. McCaffrey's office has been running television and radio ads in Arizona this year that target both parents and kids. The office has a telephone number (1-800-788-2800) for parents who want advice in talking to their kids about drugs. "Too many federal anti-drug dollars continue to be spent on efforts to reduce the supply of drugs, rather than to reduce demand," said a statement by Drug Strategies, a Washington-based research institute fighting the drug problem. *** Jeff Barker can be reached at via e-mail or at 1-(202) 662-7264. Mark Greer DrugSense http://www.DrugSense.org/ http://www.mapinc.org - --- Checked-by: Pat Dolan