Illicit Drugs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Clearly, the middle school years are a period that sees rapid increases
in students’ experimentation with illicit drugs.

Data already presented indicate that the lifetime prevalence of illicit drug use has increased markedly among Washington’s students since 1992, with the exception of inhalants. While increases in experimental use are a concern, the trends in current use may signal a need for more prevention and intervention in schools and communities. Among illicit drugs, marijuana evidences the most significant increases in current use, as shown in Exhibit 5-9.

Finding: Current use of marijuana has risen sharply since 1992 in all but
grade 6. At grade 8, the rate has almost tripled, from 6 percent of students
in 1992 to over 16 percent in 1995. Nearly one in four tenth and twelfth
graders reports current use—both significant increases since 1992

Trends in 30-Day Prevalence of Marijuana Use
Grades 6, 8, 10, and 12: 1990-98

. . . there are approximately 10,000 more eighth grade students smoking marijuana in 1995 than there were in 1992.

The increases at grades 8, 10, and 12 are not only statistically significant, they are dramatic, approaching 10 percent of the students at grades 8 and 10. Again, these increases parallel the dramatic rise at the national level, particularly among eighth graders whose use in the past year has doubled (Johnston, et al., 1994). Extrapolating Washington’s prevalence rates to the full student population across the state, the data indicate that, for example, there are approximately 10,000 more eighth grade students currently smoking marijuana in 1995 than there were in 1992.

Attitudes Toward ATOD Use

The recent rise in illicit drug use has been at least partially attributed to the "erosion of anti-drug attitudes and norms" in this decade (Johnston, et al., 1994a), as well as the dramatic decline in both funding for prevention programs and attention to anti-drug messages in the media (CADCA, 1994). One of the key attitudes influencing ATOD use is the perception of harm that smoking, excessive drinking, or regular use of marijuana causes. The Washington State survey has included these attitude items since 1988. Their relationship to the trends in current (30-day) use of marijuana among eighth graders is shown in Exhibit 5-12.

Finding: The recent decline in perceived health risk of smoking
marijuana and binge drinking is accompanied by a significant
increase in both of these behaviors since 1992

Trends in Perceived Risk and 30-Day Use of Marijuana Among Eighth Grade Students in Washington: 1988-98

From 1988 to 1992, nearly half of all eighth graders saw "great risk" in smoking marijuana occasionally. This percentage dropped significantly in 1995 to only 29 percent. As illustrated in Exhibit 5-12, trends in recent marijuana use among eighth graders increased corresponding to this decrease in perceived risk of marijuana use.

These relationships may not be conclusive proof of the causal influence of attitudes on behavior—indeed, some would argue that the behavior occurs first and attitudes are formed to support the behavior—but the strong inverse association of these trends is strongly suggestive of the close link between perceived health risk and actual behavior.

In addition to responding to questions about their own perception of health risks, students were asked whether they thought their close friends would approve or disapprove of various risky behaviors. Approximately 80 percent of sixth graders indicated their friends would disapprove of occasional marijuana use or binge drinking. This proportion declined gradually across the grades to high school seniors who reported fewer than half (47.6 percent) of their friends would disapprove of occasional marijuana use and just over one-third of them would disapprove of binge drinking. These are both well below Healthy People 2000 objectives:

Increase the proportion of high school seniors who perceive social
disapproval associated with heavy use of alcohol, occasional use
of marijuana:  Alcohol—70 percent    Marijuana—85 percent.

As with students’ own perceptions of health risks associated with alcohol and marijuana use, their perceptions of peer attitudes about use of these substances are correlated with trends in actual use.

In reporting on the recent increases in ATOD use in contrast to years of declining use through the 1980s, Johnston, et al. (1994b) summed up the concerns for the erosion of these attitudes:

The arduously woven fabric of attitudes, beliefs, and peer norms
which brought about that decline, is beginning to unravel.