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1994.04.08 : Report on Youth Attitudes Toward Drugs (from 1992 Household Survey)  

Contact:  Public Health Service/SAMHSA
Friday, April 8, 1994                   Pat El-Hinnawy
                                        (301) 443-8956


     HHS today released a report based on the 1992 Household Survey
on Drug Abuse showing that substantial numbers of Americans, notably
young people, believe that using drugs is not harmful.

     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said, "This alarming turnaround
in attitudes toward using illegal drugs tells us that we can never
decrease our vigilance--never.  Attitudes about the danger of drugs
have consistently been linked to actual use of these harmful
substances.  Today's youth must understand as early as possible that
drugs are not only harmful, but can be deadly."

     The study, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, a Public Health Service agency, showed that
only 54 percent of 12-17 year olds in 1992 believed that there is
great risk associated with trying cocaine once or twice.  Only about
half (49 percent) of those youths reported that smoking a pack or
more of cigarettes per day is associated with great risk of harm. 
In both cases, youth see less harm associated with drug use than the
rest of the population.  

     Philip R. Lee, M.D., HHS assistant secretary for health and
director of the Public Health Service, stated, "These figures
indicate a need for continuing and strengthening prevention work,
especially among today's youth.  We cannot afford to let any young
person in America today grow up and be less than fully aware of the
serious consequences of drug use."  

     President Clinton's FY 1995 budget proposal for spending on
drug abuse prevention is $2.1 billion, an increase of 28 percent
from $1.6 billion this year.

     In particular, to make young people more aware of the serious
consequences of drug abuse, HHS supports broad-based national
prevention programs, including media campaigns and a community
partnership demonstration program which has invested over $312
million to assist 252 local communities in carrying out systematic,
community-wide prevention activities.

     In addition, a National Structured Prevention Evaluation
project, with results expected later this year, is a study of more
than 400 prevention programs that will help identify what works best
in substance abuse prevention programs.  HHS has also launched a
National Center for the Advancement of Prevention to help unify
federal, state and local prevention efforts and improve prevention
efforts.

     The Office of National Drug Control Policy also plans this
spring to convene a panel of national scholars and experts in
substance abuse prevention to review programs and policies that
directly and vigorously address the problem.

                              - More -
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     The new data analysis shows that among all Americans aged 12
years and older:

         Marijuana -- Fewer than half of Americans (45 percent)
          reported believing that occasional marijuana use was
          associated with great risk of harm.  This is a decrease
          from the 50 percent level in 1988.

         Cocaine -- 68 percent of Americans reported that trying
          cocaine once or twice was associated with great risk of
          harm, down from the 71 percent in 1988.

         Heroin -- 75 percent of Americans reported that trying
          heroin once or twice was associated with great risk of
          harm, little changed from the 1988 figure of 77 percent. 

         Tobacco -- 64 percent of Americans reported believing that
          smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day was
          associated with great risk of harm, little changed from 62
          percent in 1988.    

     Perceptions of risk associated with use of alcohol were not
included in this report.

     The new analysis also showed that in 1992, those groups within
the population who were least likely to believe that drug use is
harmful included young people, men and whites.  People with the
highest educational attainment were most likely to perceive great
risk in smoking cigarettes, but least likely to perceive great risk
in using illicit drugs.  

     The same survey asked respondents about their perception of the
current availability of illegal drugs.  Fifty-nine percent of
Americans reported that marijuana was easy for them to get, and 40
percent reported that cocaine was easy to get.  Both figures
represented small decreases from 1991 in the proportion who reported
that marijuana and cocaine were easy to obtain.  In general, the
proportion reporting that drugs were easy to get was highest among 
age groups that have the highest rates of current drug use, 18-25
and 26-34 year olds.

     Findings in this survey are consistent with those of the
"Monitoring the Future" survey, conducted by HHS' National Institute
on Drug Abuse.  In it, young people in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades
showed decreasing perceptions of risk from using illegal drugs, and
concomitant increases in use of most drugs.

     The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
is one of the eight agencies of the U.S. Public Health Service,
which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.


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