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Half of U.S. adolescents cite drug use by peers
Survey points to abuse starting at younger ages

08/14/97

By Julie Hirschfeld / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON More than 50 percent of American adolescents said in a poll
this summer that they have friends or classmates who use heroin, cocaine
or acid, according to a Columbia University report released Wednesday.

Just days after a federal drug abuse study showed youth drug use
particularly of marijuana declining, the university study presented
disturbing evidence that drug abusers are starting while they are still
children.

Nearly a fourth of the 12yearolds in the survey said they knew someone
using heroin, cocaine or acid more than double the results found in a
1996 survey.

"Young people at an earlier and earlier age are being introduced to
cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol," said the Rev. Edward Malloy, Notre
Dame University president.

Mr. Malloy is chairman of the adolescent substance abuse commission of
Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, which
conducted random phone surveys of 1,115 youths ages 12 to 17 in June and
July.

The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent,
according to Luntz Research Cos., which performed the survey.
Wednesday's findings were taken from a larger study of adolescents and
their parents that is scheduled for release next month.

"The earlier that young people begin such abuse, the more likely their
future life course will be seriously damaged by it," Mr. Malloy said.

The average age of Americans' first experience with marijuana has been
getting younger for decades, the study said. While the average age of
first marijuana use in 1963 was 24.2, by 1994 teens were trying the drug
at an average age of 16.3. Meanwhile, the use of heroin by teens doubled
from 1991 to 1996.

The study also found new evidence that the users of cigarettes, alcohol
and marijuana often called gateway drugs are more likely to use
harder drugs such as heroin, cocaine or acid.

"Teens who play with the fire of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana
greatly increase the risk of getting burned by the flames of heroin,
cocaine and acid," said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman of the Columbia
center that released the report.

Those 12 to 17yearolds with no other "problem behaviors" who drank
alcohol, smoked cigarettes or used marijuana at least once in the past
month were 17 times more likely to use harder drugs than those who did
not. The study drew those conclusions from analyzing 1995 data from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which surveyed 10,900 ninth
to 12thgraders.

The report said the peak time for starting cigarette smoking is among
11 to 12yearolds, or sixth and seventhgraders. It said more than 1
million eighthgraders have gotten drunk at least once. The percentage
of 9 to 12yearolds trying marijuana rose in the last year to 4 from 2
percent.

With younger children trying gateway drugs every year, the new study
emphasized the importance of parents and communities in conquering the
country's drug problem.

"This battle is going to be won across the kitchen table, in the living
room, in the church pews," Mr. Califano said.

Last week, the federal government released its 1996 National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse, which found that the proportion of youths ages 12
to 17 reporting marijuana use in the month before they were interviewed
had fallen from 8.2 percent in 1995 to 7.1 percent.

The Household Survey, based on interviews with a nationwide sample of
18,629 people ages 12 and older, found that marijuana use among
teenagers has ceased to escalate, with the most marked decline among
youths ages 12 to 15.

The Clinton administration said the Columbia study shows that last
week's encouraging news is a far cry from a victory in the war on drugs.
White House drug policy adviser Barry McCaffrey used Wednesday's
findings to promote the president's $175 million youthdrug prevention
media campaign.

"It is another wakeup call that we have not changed youth attitudes
about drugs which, if unchecked, presage future use," Mr. McCaffrey
said.

Antidrug experts said while the Columbia study doesn't contradict the
federal report, it highlights an aspect of substance abuse the other
study did not focus on.

"The Household Survey gave us a glimmer of hope," said James Copple,
president and CEO of the Community Antidrug Coalitions of America. "I
think the message today is that onset is younger, and that the Household
Survey doesn't attempt to capture that."

The Columbia report also called for the government to commit $1 billion
a year for more research on addiction, and to devote more resources to
biomedical and social research on adolescence.

But the key to conquering the onset of drug use at a young age, said
many drug abuse experts, still lies in parental and community
involvement.

Invoking the image that first lady Hillary Clinton uses to describe
raising children, Mr. Copple said, "We need greater communication from
the village. We've got to get all segments of that village speaking, not
just one or two isolated fragments."