The New York Times

Friday, June 9, 2000

Teenagers' Drug Use Rising, Survey Finds

By REUTERS

ATLANTA, June 8 -- The percentage of American high school students who said in a recent survey that they used cocaine or marijuana rose during the 1990's, but fewer teenagers brought weapons to school or got into fights, federal health officials said today.

A 1999 survey of 15,349 teenagers in grades 9 through 12 found that half had tried alcohol, 35 percent had smoked cigarettes, 27 percent had smoked marijuana and 4 percent had tried cocaine in the month before the survey.

One-third of the students had had five or more drinks of alcohol at least once, according to the confidential survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Figures for cocaine and marijuana use were higher than those from a 1993 study, the centers said.

Researchers noted, however, that the percentage of students who had been involved in a fight declined to 36 percent in 1999 from 43 percent early in the decade. Seventeen percent had carried a weapon like a gun or knife in the 30 days before the 1999 survey, a 34 percent decline from 1991.

Half the students had engaged in sexual intercourse, and 16 percent said they had already had four or more sexual partners, the survey found. Fifty-eight percent reported using a condom during their last intercourse, up 26 percent from 1991.

The centers said 10 percent of the students were overweight and only 35 percent engaged in vigorous physical activity for 20 minutes or more at least three days a week. The number of students who said they never or rarely wore seat belts declined 37 percent from 1991 to 1999.