US drug use falls, except among older adults

WASHINGTON, Sep 8 (Reuters) Youngsters are using fewer illegal drugs but a spike in use has been seen among older adults, perhaps because a few aging baby boomers have clung to their rebellious ways, according a US substance abuse report.

Just 6.8 per cent of teenagers aged 12 to 17 said they used marijuana in 2005, down from 8.2 per cent in 2002, according to the annual survey done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Overall illicit drug use also fell, from 11.6 percent in 2002 who said they had used drugs in the past month to 9.9 per cent in 2005, the report said.

''Something important is happening with American teens,'' said John Walters yesterday, Director of National Drug Control Policy.

''They are getting the message that using drugs limits their futures, and they are turning away from the destructive patterns and cruelly misinformed perceptions about substance abuse that have so damaged previous generations,'' he said.

But baby boomers, now entering their 50s and 60s, are apparently not all tuning in to the message.

The rate of current illicit drug use increased from 2.7 per cent among adults aged 50 to 59 in 2002 to 4.4 per cent in 2005.

''Could kids be rejecting drugs because it's some lame thing that old people do?,'' asked Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House National Office of Drug Control Policy.

''To what extent is boomer 'recreational' use now more accurately understood as 'dependency'?'' The illegal use of alcohol fell among teens, with 16.5 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds saying they were drinkers and 9.9 percent reporting binge drinking -- defined as having five or more drinks in a row. Both are down more than a full percentage point from 2004.

FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN TEEN DRUG USE ''The news today is there is a fundamental shift in drug use among young people in America,'' said Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, who is SAMHSA Acting Deputy Administrator.

''We first saw this shift towards healthier decisions when rates of tobacco use among young people began to go down. Now, we see a sustained drop in rates of drug use. We will see if the decline in drinking among 12-to 17-year-olds becomes a continued pattern as well,'' he said.

But certain dangerous patterns of alcohol use did not change -- nearly 23 percent of all people aged 12 and older admitted to binge drinking.

''This translates as about 55 million people, comparable to the 2004 estimate,'' SAMHSA said in a statement. ''The binge drinking rate among young adults ages 18-25 was 41.9 per cent, and the heavy drinking rate was 15.3 per cent.'' Close to 89 percent of people who said they had tasted alcohol for the first time were under the legal drinking age of 21, the survey found.

About 6 percent of people said they had smoked or eaten marijuana in the past month, and 2.6 per cent said they had abused prescription drugs.

About 4 per cent of people surveyed said they had used methamphetamine. Just about 1 percent said they had used cocaine, about the same as in past years, while about 0.1 per cent used heroin, also not much of a change.

The survey found that 71.5 million Americans ages 12 and older used tobacco. Just over 29 percent of people said they had smoked or chewed tobacco in the past month.

Among children aged 12 to 17 tobacco use fell to 10.8 per cent in 2005 from 13 per cent in 2002.

Reuters PB GC0912