SURVEY SHOWS HIGH SCHOOL DRUG USE IS DOWN

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Use of methamphetamine and steroids among high
school students has dropped sharply since 2001, according to a
national survey of teens.

The University of Michigan's annual Monitoring the Future survey
released last week, shows the use of methamphetamines a highly
addictive often home-brewed drug among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders,
combined, has dipped by approximately one-third since 2001. The
study reports the declines were 34 percent, 30 percent, and 36
percent respectively for lifetime, past year, and past month use
among high schoolers. The report also indicates that the use of
steroids, commonly used to enhance physique or athletic performance,
has also dropped dramatically since 2001. Steroid use, the survey
found, was down 38 percent, 37 percent, and 30 percent for lifetime,
past year, and past month use.

This year, 49,347 students from 402 public and private schools
participated in the survey. The survey, formerly known as the
National High School Senior survey, is designed to measure drug,
alcohol and cigarette use and related attitudes among 8th, 10th and
12th grade students nationwide. Survey participants report their
drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year,
and past month.

Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors,
attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college
students, and young adults, according to its creators. Each year, a
8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since
1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991). In addition, annual
follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sampling of each graduating
class for a number of years after their initial participation.

While the survey results represents welcome news for those in the
Lakes Region working to curb substance abuse among teens, some of
the findings show that the use of marijuana and cocaine remains
pervasive among young people. Despite the progress in reducing
some forms of teen drug use, the survey found that one in four 10th
graders reported smoking marijuana last year and nearly half or 45
percent of 12th graders said they had used marijuana at least once
in their lifetime.

Additionally the survey found while the proportion of older teens
that abuse illicit drugs continued to decline last year, the
long-term improvement that had been occurring among 8th graders
since 1986, appears to have ended this year.

"What is significant is that the use of these substances has
declined substantially since the recent peak levels reached in the
mid-1990s," said Dr. Lloyd Johnson the study's principal
investigator. "Generally, the proportional declines since then have
been greatest among 8th graders and the least among the 12th
graders, despite the fact the 8th graders show no
continued improvement this year."

For Renee Rockwell, who heads CoRe, the Community Response group
that formed after a Youth Risk Survey showed drug use had increased
among Inter-Lakes High School students, the latest results show
teens nationwide are getting the message that drugs are harmful.
Core's work to create a series of drug-free after school activities
for area teens have been successful in efforts to broaden a local
drug-free culture, she said, and subsequent local surveys have shown
drug use in the three communities served by the Inter-Lakes School
District has fallen.

"Marijuana is a addictive drug and we need to continue to educate
teens about the growing list of harms associated with its use," said Rockwell.

The best news touted by the survey is the trend analysis for current
use among youth of any illicit drug from 2001 to 2005. Among 8th,
10th and 12th graders such abuse shows a drop of 19 percent. This
translates into nearly 700,000 fewer youth using illicit drugs in
2005 than in 2001, the survey found.

Prescription drug abuse however, remains troubling. OxyContin, a
powerful painkiller most commonly prescribed to cancer patients is
the only drug for which the 2005 survey reports an increase among
all three grades combined: past year use increased from 2.7 percent
in 2002 to 3.4 percent in 2005, an increase of 26 percent. The
survey only began measuring the abuse of oxycontin in 2002.

In an effort to reduce the availability of prescription drugs on the
street, a group of physicians have been working to create a more
comprehensive prescription reporting system and have urged the New
Hampshire Legislature to establish a study committee.

Under the current system, prescription forgery is common and
hundreds of doses of prescription drugs can often end up being sold
on the street before investigators with the state Pharmacy Board
charged with monitoring and enforcing the distribution of drugs by
pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes could detect abuses.

In the New Year, the state lawmakers will be asked to consider a
number of bills dealing with illicit drugs. House Bill 1406 seeks to
add methamphetamine to the penalty provisions of the controlled drug
act and require a $100 fine in addition to any civil or
administrative penalty accessed by the court for those convicted of
violating the act. The bill would further establish a drug education
and abuse prevention program that would be financed by fines
established by the legislation. House Bill 1467 would require that
convicted drug offenders register with the N.H. Department of Public
Safety, Division of State Police. House Bill 1436 proposes to
establish a committee to study the effects of current state and
federal laws on illegal drugs and the possession and use of such
drugs. House Bill 1578 seeks to enhance public awareness about
methamphetamine and to education residents about its dangers. House
Bill 1576 would require the department of health and hum! an
services, in cooperation with the governor's commission on alcohol
and drug abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment, to implement
a voluntary Meth Watch program in New Hampshire.

Although marijuana remains the most commonly abused illicit drug
among teens, usage rates are declining, the study found. Marijuana
use dropped in all three categories: lifetime (13 percent), past
year (15 percent), and 30-day use (19 percent.) Most
notably, current use of marijuana dropped 28 percent among
8th graders -- from 9.2 to 6.6 percent -- and 23 percent among 10th
graders, from 19.8 percent to 15.2 percent.

The surveys findings also recorded declines of nearly two-thirds in
current use of hallucinogens and the club-drug Ecstasy. The use of
alcohol by youth, including those who report having been drunk, is
also down since 2001. Use of cigarettes has dropped in all four
categories (lifetime, past month, daily, and half-pack plus per day)
in all three grades.

A decrease in some categories of club drugs, including rohypnol
(often linked to date rape), GHB, and ketamine (a veterinary
anesthetic) was also reported by the survey.

Cocaine use has continued to remain stable across the four-year
period for all grades in all prevalence categories; the number of
current heroin users has remained stable at relatively low
prevalence levels (.5 percent) among all grades. The National Youth
Anti-Drug Media Campaign is being credited with making major strides
in its efforts to alert teens and parents about the dangers and
harms of drug use, including marijuana. There is concern however,
that federal funding cuts in recent years are starting to erode the
perception of harm of marijuana use among young teens. Those
concerns are borne out by the survey that indicates that among 8th
graders, the perceived harm in smoking marijuana regularly,
which had been rising sharply in recent years, has decreased (from
76.2 percent to 73.9 percent).

The survey is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, under
the auspices of the Health and Human Services National Institutes of
Health, and conducted since its inception by the University of
Michigan. Information from this survey helps national policymakers
identify potential drug problem areas and target resources to areas
of greatest need.

Congress created the media campaign in 1998 with bipartisan support,
with the goal of educating and enabling young people to reject
illicit drugs. Supporters say the program has enjoyed an
unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, nonprofit
community service organizations, volunteerism, and youth-to-youth
communications. The effort, founders said, is designed to reach
Americans of diverse backgrounds with "clear, consistent, and
credible anti-drug messages."

The complete survey results can be viewed at monitoringthefuture.org.