"Considering the addictive potential of this drug, these are disturbingly high rates of use," said Lloyd Johnston, principal investigator of the Monitoring the Future Study, "and they contrast with heroin's annual prevalence rate of less than 1 percent on all three grade levels." The abuse of prescription painkillers like Ox圜ontin actually went up in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades, with 4.5 percent of 12th graders reporting using the drug without a doctor's prescription in the past year. Also, abuse of alcohol - still the drug which does the most harm to teens - remained essentially the same across the grade levels. That's usually a harbinger of what's to come in future surveys of higher grades. It found that while the other grades continued to find drops in overall drug use, a number of drugs leveled off in the junior high crowd. One troubling sign comes from several numbers found among eighth-graders surveyed by the Monitoring the Future Study by the University of Michigan. In 2003, it was down to 46 percent.Ĭall it the beginning of what could be a very good trend.īut substance experts see warnings woven in with the positive data. In 1998, 51 percent of all teens reported experimenting with an illegal drug. And it finally has statistical significance. "But we can't forget that 2 million teenagers in America still tried this drug last year - we can't take our eye off of it."Įxperts credit the concerted efforts of the Partnership's focused and aggressive advertising and the Office of National Drug Control Policy support for the findings of the two recent surveys that report an overall drop in drug use from marijuana to methamphetamines for the second year in a row. "Clearly, the drop in Ecstasy use reflects a change in attitudes," says Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership, a non-profit drug prevention media program. A study released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America last week found it was down 25 percent in 2003. The combination has helped bring down the use of the once surging drug Ecstasy for the second straight year.
David rosenbloom join together tv#
In the past three years, frightening stories like the one told by France circulated in schools, were highlighted on "Oprah," and touted in TV ads. "When our perception of harm goes down, drug use tends to go up." "When drug use goes down we tend to forget that a new generation of drug users comes of age every year," says David Rosenbloom, executive director of Join Together, a substance abuse prevention network in Boston. But experts worry that the good news may mask some troubling trends in the recreational drug culture. France's story illustrates, are varied - they range from personal experience to an intense media campaign funded in part by the federal government. There's no question that there's a reason to celebrate, say experts. Today, the Bush administration will tout the 11 percent drop in teen drug use between 20 as it rolls out its annual Drug Control Strategy. The girl survived, and her experience became a cautionary tale for those at the party. "They couldn't call the hospital because her parents didn't know she was at the party." "She started burning, they had to put her in the tub with some cold water and ice," says the lanky teen from the Bronx. She got a little nervous, then scared, and then started acting "crazy." What she didn't know, was that someone had popped another Ecstasy pill into her liquor bottle. If Robert France ever had any doubts about whether to experiment with Ecstasy, the club drug known as the love drug, they were resolved at a recent party.Ī girl there had taken her first Ecstasy pill and the warm feelings and confidence brought on by the mix of speed and hallucinogens was starting to take hold.
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