NCJ Number
154371
Journal
American Journal of Public Health Volume: 81 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1991) Pages: 1064-1067
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A school-based epidemiological survey of drug use was conducted in the spring of 1988 among 7,611 adolescents representative of students in grades 7 through 12 in New York State public and private schools.
Abstract
Results revealed large declines in the use of illicit drugs since the survey 5 years earlier. The declines were at least 50 percent in the use of almost every illicit drug, but no change occurred in alcohol use. The decline appeared to be stronger than the decline reported in national samples. The epidemiological data contrast with data on treated or clinical cases, which have revealed dramatic increases throughout the 1980's. Findings suggested the possibility that we are moving toward an increasingly polarized society, in which drug involvement is another dimension, besides lower economic and social resources and higher social pathologies, on which groups are divided and the gap between them is becoming greater. Strengthening the educational system and youths' investment in their schooling and future may be a most promising way of reducing involvement in such activities as drug use, which are destructive for self and society. Tables and 24 references