Ecstasy Use Among US Teens Down 25%

The use of Ecstasy among teenagers dropped 25% in the last two years, a decrease that translates into an additional 770,000 teens rejecting the once-trendy drug , a new study says.

The study released Wednesday by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America also indicated declines overall in teen drug use, marked by decreases in the number of teenagers using marijuana, LSD and methamphetamine, the survey indicated.

According to the partnership's 16th annual survey, the percentage of teens using Ecstasy was at 9% for 2003 -a significant decline from the 12% figure of 2001, when use of the drug hit its peak.

But Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the partnership, warned that the Ecstasy decrease did not mean the drug no longer posed a problem.

"The Ecstasy threat remains: Last year, 2 million teenagers in America had tried this drug ," Pasierb said. "We can -and we must -kick Ecstasy while it's down, and kick it down further."

The figures on Ecstasy use mirrored the findings of a University of Michigan study released in December, which also reported that drug use among junior- and senior-high school students was on a two-year decline.

The Partnership said an increase in anti-drug attitudes was responsible for the change.

Overall, the number of teens who reported trying any illegal drug was at 46% for 2003, down from 51% in 1998. Methamphetamine use was reduced 33% since 1998, although certain geographic regions -the midwest and southwest -remained more popular outposts for the drug .

LSD use among teenagers was down 42% over the last five years, the survey found. Tobacco use was down, as well as underage drinking -although half of all teens reported drinking alcohol in the last year, according to the survey.

The survey did find several areas of concern among teens, particularly in the use of inhalants (where there was an uptick in use) and the misuse of prescription drugs . In the year of Rush Limbaugh and his Oxycontin woes, one in every five teens reported using a prescription drug without a doctor's order.

The study was conducted among 7,270 adolescents nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Data was collected from April through June of 2003 from questionnaires that students filled out anonymously.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a coalition of communications professionals aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs .