PRESCRIPTION-DRUG ABUSE UP AMONG TEENS

WASHINGTON -- America's teens are smoking less and popping pain pills more.

The lure of the family medicine cabinet helped nearly one in 10 high
school seniors try out prescription painkillers in 2004, even as
their generation continued turning away, at least slightly, from
smoking and many other drugs.

The decline in illicit drug use by teens was modest, but continued a
trend, according to the government's annual study of drug use by
eighth, 10th and 12th grade students.

And while teen cigarette smoking fell to its lowest level since the
survey began, eighth graders showed their first increase since 1996
in smoking in the month before the survey.

The survey of nearly 50,000 teens across the country found that 21.4
percent of eighth graders had used some illicit drug in their life,
down from 21.5 percent a year earlier. For 10th graders, it was 38.2
percent, down from 39.8 percent and the figure for 12th graders was
50.4 percent, down from 51.1 percent.

Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
called that continuing decline "quite remarkable news."

But, she told a briefing where the annual report was made public,
abuse of prescription drugs by teens is a growing problem.

Use of the painkiller OxyContin grew from 4 percent to 5.5 percent of
high school seniors from 2002 to 2005, she said, and their use of
Vicodin has been consistently over 9 percent, clocking in at 9.5
percent in 2005.

In Alabama, Red Bay police Sgt. Scottie Belue recently coordinated a
seminar to inform law enforcement officers about the rising problems
with prescription drugs.

"There is a definite problem with prescription drug abuse in our
area," Belue said. "The more we learn about it, the more we can do to
fight it."

Debbie Knott, administrative assistant with the Substance Abuse
Council of Northwest Alabama, said prescription drug abuse is
becoming a major problem. She does not see, however, that one
particular drug has replaced another.

"There are a variety of problems out there," she said.

"Alcohol and pill abuse are a problem, but I don't think one replaces another."

Knott said that a national decrease in one type of abuse or another
does not mean the problems are going away.

"Most of the time, they are using what they can get," she said. "If
someone is using pills but don't have any, and there is a case of
beer there, then they will just substitute it."

Nancy Cooper, who serves as the Safe and Drug Free Schools counselor
in Russellville, said that curriculum at local schools is based on
stopping the "gateway" drugs.

"If we can keep kids from using cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and
inhalants, then they are unlikely to go on to use other drugs," Cooper said.

Only marijuana topped prescription drugs in teen use, Volkow said,
and that has been declining over time. For 2005, 44.8 percent of 12th
graders said they had used marijuana at some time in their lives,
down 0.9 percentage points from 2004. The total was 34.1 percent for
10th graders, down 1 point. The 16.5 percent among eighth graders
were up 0.2 point, ending a steady decline since 1996.

Study director Lloyd Johnston, of the University of Michigan, noting
that eighth graders had also ended their declines in tobacco use,
raised a concern about reduced funding for anti-tobacco messages. The
ongoing study is called Monitoring the Future.

"The best news in this year's report is the significant decline in
cigarette smoking, not just because that ultimately is the most
deadly drug but also because it confirms that drug abuse is best
reduced through sensible public health measures rather than criminal
penalties, prosecutions and prisons," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive
director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

William V. Corr, executive director of Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids, said the report "sounds a clear warning to state and federal
elected officials: Our nation's progress in reducing youth smoking is
at risk unless they take more aggressive action to prevent kids from
smoking and curb tobacco marketing."

Findings of the survey of 49,347 students in 402 public and private
schools across the country found:

# Some 75.1 percent of seniors have taken alcohol at some time. For
10th graders, 63.2 percent have tried a drink and the figure is 41
percent of eighth graders.

# More than half, 57.5 percent of seniors, said they had been drunk
at some time, compared to 42.1 percent of 10th graders and 19.5
percent of eighth graders, down 0.5 point.

# Among seniors, 2.6 percent have tried steroids compared to 2
percent in 10th grade and 1.7 percent in eighth grade.

Johnston said steroid use was a problem in the 1990s but has faded
with the increasing attention to the problems caused by these drugs.

On the other hand he said an increase in use of inhalants indicates
the lessons learned from an anti-inhalant campaign in the '90s are being lost.

Karen Tandy, of the Drug Enforcement Administration, warned of the
increased availability of drugs through the Internet.

Belue said Red Bay police and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office
worked together to stop an illegal operation where several
individuals were purchasing prescription drugs over the Internet.

While federal officials stressed the long-term declines in drug use,
others saw things differently.

"The survey results expose the abysmal failure that is the War on
Drugs," said Scarlett Swerdlow, executive director of Students for
Sensible Drug Policy.

Staff writer Jonathan Willis contributed to this report.