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SCIENCE REPORT - February 27, 2002: Drug Use Report
By George Grow
This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT.
A new study examines drug use by young people
in the United States.
The study found that cigarette smoking among
American teenagers dropped during the past year. The drop continues
a general decrease in teenage smoking rates that started in Nineteen-Ninety-Six.
American health officials praised the decrease
as good news in the nation's battle against smoking. They note that
smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease.
Smoking rates among American teenagers increased in the first half of
the Nineteen-Nineties. However, teenage smoking rates have been decreasing
in recent years.
The University of Michigan's Institute for Social
Research supervised the latest study. The Department of Health and Human
Services reported the findings.
The study involved more than forty-four-thousand
students in more than four-hundred schools across the United States.
They were asked about past and daily use of tobacco, alcohol and illegal
drugs.
The youngest students questioned were thirteen
years old. The study also involved fifteen-year-old students and seventeen-year-olds.
The most notable change in the study was a continuation
of the decrease in cigarette use among thirteen and fifteen-year-olds.
For example, about twelve percent of thirteen-year-old
students questioned reported smoking at least one cigarette during the
past month. Six years ago, the rate was twenty-one percent. Among fifteen-year-olds,
the rate dropped from thirty percent in Nineteen-Ninety-Six to twenty-one
percent last year.
Tommy Thompson is the secretary of Health and
Human Services. He praised the findings. He said more teenagers are
making correct choices that will help them avoid health problems caused
by tobacco.
The study found that use of alcoholic drinks
and illegal drugs among American teenagers remained the same or dropped
during the past year. However, the use of one illegal drug known as
Ecstasy continued to increase. Yet the rate of increase was not as great
as in recent years.
American health officials said they will continue
to give teenagers scientific information about the serious health risks
of Ecstasy and other illegal drugs. The goal is to further reduce the
use of these drugs.
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