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Wednesday, February 14, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
College student drug use down, survey reveals
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Use of illegal drugs by high school seniors, college students and other young adults declined in 1989, continuing a decade-long trend, according to an annual survey released yesterday.
The survey, financed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said that illegal drug use dropped last year among all three categories of young people surveyed and that casual use among high school seniors and college students was about half what it was a decade ago.
"This reduced demand is attributable largely to the important changes occurring in the attitudes, beliefs and social norms among our young people," said Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan social scientist who helped conduct the survey.
He said the decline had come about because anti-drug messages had made illegal drug use unfashionable. He said the dropoff had been occurring despite students' belief that marijuana and cocaine are easy to get.
However, survey officials said they were still concerned about the use of crack, a highly addictive, smokable form of cocaine. Its use among mainstream young adults is declining, the survey found, but not as much as the use of powdered cocaine. Among seniors, 1.4 percent said they had used crack within the previous 30 days, down from 1.6 percent in 1988.
They also expressed concern about the use of ice, or crystal methamphetamine, which was included in the survey for the first time last year. About 1.2 percent of the seniors surveyed said they had used it at least once in the past year. Usage was highest in the West, where 3 percent of the seniors had used it.
The drug MDNA, known as
eastside, also was included for the first time and was shown to have been tried by 3.8 percent of the college students and 3.3 percent of the high school graduates not in college.
The survey also asked high school seniors about anabolic steroids, which are a controlled substance used to build muscles. About 3 percent said they had used these drugs.
Illegal drug use among high school seniors peaked in 1981, when the survey found that 65.6 percent said they had used marijuana, cocaine or some other illicit drug at least once. That figure dropped during the decade to 50.9 percent in 1989.
The section of the survey dealing with college students showed 36.7 percent used an illicit drug at least once during the previous year, compared with 56.2 percent in 1980, when this survey began.
Among young adults ages 19-28,
use of an illegal drug within the
previous year dropped from 41.9
percent in 1986 to 32.8 percent.
In 1979, nearly 39 percent of high school seniors said they had used an illegal drug during the previous 30 days. By 1989 that figure had dropped by nearly half to 19.7 percent, according to the survey. College students saw a similar decline. They went from 38.4 percent in 1979 down to 18.2 percent last year.
Johnston said that although the survey missed high school dropouts, the data suggest the decline in drug use may extend to this group as well. He said the survey showed that the dropoff in use was at least as great among high school seniors who were frequently absent from school and who had poor grades as among those who are seldom truant and who have good grades.
Gretchen Pippenger/KANSAN
Ribbon on a rose
Valerie Carr of Lawrence cuts a ribbon for Valentine roses at The Flower Shoppe, 1101 Massachusetts St. The store has sold about 2,500 roses for Valentine's Day.
Witness jailed for contempt in Barry case
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A woman was jailed for civil contempt of court yesterday after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Mayor Marion Barry.
U. S. District Judge John Garrett Penn granted immunity from prosecution to Maria McCarthy, of Greenboro, N.C., after she initially refused to discuss Barry with the grand jury, said her attorney, Leslie Scherr.
When she still declined to testify,
she was ordered jailed, Scherr said.
substance abuse treatment center after being arrested Jan. 18 on a misdemeanor cocaine possession charge, has denied using drugs with Lewis.
The grand jury is investigating Barry's ties to former city employee Lewis, who has cooperated with the panel after pleading guilty to two cocaine conspiracy charges. Lewis testified in open court that he supplied Barry with crack cocaine.
The federal investigation began in December 1988 after city police aborted an undercover drug purchase from Lewis when they discovered that Barry was in his downtown Washington hotel room.
Scherr said McCarthy explained her decision not to testify by telling him, "I have to live with myself, whether he was a friend or enemy, we had a relationship that doesn't need public scrutiny."
Barry, who enrolled in a Florida
The attorney declined to say whether McCarthy had been referring to Barry, but two city government sources said that Barry and McCarthy had had a personal relationship.
McCarthy is the second woman jailed for civil contempt for refusing to discuss her relationship with Barry. Karen Johnson served eight months in jail in 1984.
Under law, McCarthy can be kept in jail as long as the grand jury hearing evidence in the case remains in session. Grand juries normally are emanaled for 18 months at a time, but can be extended if the case continues.
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