STUDY Tobacco, illicit drug use among teens is down

Use of prescription drugs, however, is up for those in grades eight, 10 and 12.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 last year, 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 pupils.
And while teen 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, 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."
The flip side
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.
Only marijuana topped prescription drugs in teen use, she said, and that has been declining over time. For 2005, 44.8 percent of 12th-graders said they had used marijuana, 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 was 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.
Additional findings
Findings of the survey of 49,347 pupils in 402 public and private schools across the country found:
USome 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.
UMore than half, 57.5 percent, of seniors said they had been drunk, compared with 42.1 percent of 10th-graders and 19.5 percent of eighth-graders, down 0.5 point.
UAmong seniors, 2.6 percent have tried steroids, compared with 2 percent in 10th grade and 1.7 percent in eighth grade.
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