Wednesday, April 30, 1997
Mariuana use among elementary students down
over last two years, but ...
From staff and wire reports
AUSTIN - Marijuana use among elementary school students in
Texas has decreased over the last two years but remains almost
twice as high as four years ago, according to a survey released
Tuesday.
The survey, conducted by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and
Drug Abuse and the Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute,
also showed that fewer elementary students are smoking cigarettes
and drinking alcohol than in previous years.
The survey is based on the responses of 68,239 students in
fourth through sixth grade in 70 school districts across the state.
In all, there are about 887,000 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders
in Texas.
The study found that from 1994 to 1996, the percentage of students
who said they had smoked marijuana at least once decreased from
5.6 percent to 4 percent.
However, the rate is more than double the 1.7 percent of students
who said they had tried marijuana in 1992.
In Abilene, juvenile justice officials say they haven't seen
much of an upsurge of marijuana use in sixth grade.
"We've had very little use among elementary kids at all
in this jurisdiction," said Randy Williams, assistant chief
juvenile probation officer for Taylor County.
Lt. Ken Merchant, who heads the youth division of the Abilene
Police Department, echoed Williams.
"Most of the problems are in the middle school and high
school ages," he said.
Among sixth-graders statewide, 7.3 percent said they had smoked
pot at least once. That's a decrease from the 1994 percentage
of 8.8 percent but an increase from 3.4 percent in 1992.
That compares with 2.9 percent of fifth-graders who said they
had smoked pot at least once, down from 4.6 percent two years
ago.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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