NCJ Number
169241
Date Published
1998
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Interviews with teenagers in Massachusetts and New York and investigation of activity in Potter Valley, CA, provided information on use of marijuana and methamphetamine.
Abstract
Interviews with 30 teenagers in New York and Massachusetts found that the young people view marijuana as an acceptable drug that is often easier to obtain than beer or cigarettes. They attribute their drug experimentation, which in some cases is accepted and condoned by their parents, to curiosity, rebelliousness and the need for social acceptance. Few teens took antidrug advertising campaigns seriously. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive synthetic amphetamine that is cheap and easy to make. The death of a teenage girl in Potter Valley, CA, and the search for her killer led police to a network of users and producers and disclosed close links between addiction and child abuse, including sexual abuse. The drug has spread from California to become more commonly manufactured and used in the rural Southwest and Midwest. Problems with methamphetamine are particularly acute in rural areas, where its use is concentrated and there are few resources to deal with the problem.