.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) More teenagers have seen drug deals at school than in
their neighborhoods, according to a national survey released Monday.

The survey, conducted this summer for the National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, also found that
threefourths of high school students and nearly half of middleschool
students say drugs are kept, used or sold on the grounds of their
school.

As for drug sales, the survey found that 41 percent of high schoolers
and 18 percent of middle schoolers have witnessed drug deals on school
grounds, compared to 25 percent of high schoolers and 12 percent of
middle schoolers who've seen drug deals in their neighborhoods.

Over a fourth of high school students also said that a student in their
school died from an alcohol or drugrelated incident in the past year.

``It's back to school time in America,'' said Joseph Califano, former
U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and president of the
addiction research center. ``While our schools used to be sanctuaries
for students, many have become candy stores of dangerous substances
cigarettes, alcohol, inhalants, marijuana, heroin, cocaine and acid
sold or used by classmates on the school grounds.''

Thirtyfive percent of teens cite drugs as the most important problem
they face, slightly up from 32 percent in 1995 and 31 percent in 1996.

The survey was conducted for the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse by the Luntz Research Companies and QEV Analytics
between June 7 and July 7 among 1,115 randomly chosen 12 to
17yearolds. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage
points.

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