Seniors sniffing more cocaine

Press, 7 February 1985, Page 17

Seniors sniffing more cocaine

NZPA-Reuter Washington American high school seniors are drinking less alcohol and smoking less marijuana but are sniffing more cocaine, according to a survey.

The survey conducted for the Department of Health and Human Services by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research said the use of drugs among United States high school seniors has dropped to its lowest level since the studies started in 1975.

It said seniors, in their last year of high school in 1984, smoked less marijuana and drank less alcohol, although the use of cocaine grew.

The survey said the proportion of students using drugs at least once in the 30 days before the survey dropped to 29 per cent, four

points down from 1983 and 10 points below the peak levels recorded in 1978 and 1979.

The H.H.S. secretary, Margaret Heckler, said the survey “shows significant progress on a broad front against the spectre of drug abuse by our youth.” But she said drug use was still too high and noted that the numbers using cocaine once in the 30 days before the survey, rose from 5 per cent to 6 per cent.

The proportion of the students using marijuana daily fell to 5 per cent, the lowest figure recorded by the annual survey, compared with nearly 11 per cent in 1978.

About 55 per cent said that they had used marijuana in the last year, but only 25 per cent had used it within the 30-day period,

down from 37 per cent in 1978.

Drinking was also less popular, with only 5 per cent of the 16,000 seniors at 140 schools across the country reporting daily use of alcohol, compared with 7 per cent in 1979. “Binge” drinking, defined as having five or more drinks in a row within two weeks before the survey, also declined to 39 per cent in 1984, two points down from the 1983 figure. Most states in the United States outlaw the sale of alcohol to persons under 21.

The survey also showed a decline in cigarette smoking to the lowest level it had recorded. It said fewer than 19 per cent smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day, 2.5 percentage points down from the 1983 level.