SOME LESSONS FOR TEENS

AMERICA'S eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders are smoking less. They are
drinking less. They are using illicit drugs less.

These are the happy conclusions of a new study sponsored by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse. What went right?

One speculative answer is that something went right because something went
wrong. Some experts say the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks may have
caused American youths to become more serious about their lives, although
others say evidence to support that theory is lacking.

Teenagers may be getting smarter, thanks at least in part to programs and
advertising that point out the health consequences of indulging in
cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. They appear to be using the hallucinogen
Ecstasy less frequently because of a growing awareness that it can cause
brain damage, among other devastations.

An empirically supported theory about the steep drop in the rate of smoking
among eighth-graders - from 21 percent in a prior study to 10.7 percent in
this one - is that it is principally about dating. Many young people told
pollsters they would rather not go out with someone who was puffing away.

A director of the study concluded that "smoking makes a youngster less
attractive to the great majority of the opposite sex - just the opposite of
what cigarette advertising has been promising all these years."

Whether young Americans are more serious since 9/11, they can learn if
their elders spend enough effort trying to get their attention. We must
continue to teach them that smoking, alcohol and drugs can put them in a
hospital, and sometimes an early grave.

Meanwhile, young people seem to be teaching each other that smoking can
also leave them home alone on Saturday night.