9th,

Weekly or more frequent use of beer was reported by 2% of 7th, 12% of and 20% of 11th grade students. Beer was also the most frequently used Marijuana was used weekly by 18 of 7th, 9% of

substance on a weekly basis.

9th, and 13% of 11th grade students. Weekly use of other substances or classes of substances other than alcohol and marijuana, including cocaine and inhalants, was seldom reported by more than 1% or 2% percent of students at any grade level. Most frequent of the latter was cocaine, used at least weekly by 38 of 11th grade students.

Daily or more frequent use was confined mainly to marijuana. Less than 1% of 7th grade students reported daily use of this drug. However, 5.2% of 9th and 7.4% of 11th grade students indicated that they used marijuana daily. Daily use of beer was reported by only 2.4% of 9th and 3% of 11th grade stu

dents.

Daily use of marijuana or any other drug by 14- and 16-year-old adolescents, at the very least, defines a high risk group. If not already addicted, its members are in great danger of becoming addicted. The full impact of these findings can be appreciated if the percentage of daily marijuana use is projected to the statewide total for the population from which the sample was drawn. Daily use of marijuana by 7.4% of 11th grade students projects to 17,653 students statewide. The 5.2% use figures for 9th grade amounts to 12,149 students statewide. Comparable figures for grades 10 and 12

could be added, yielding an estimate of over 60,000 California secondary school students who use marijuana daily. This single statistic defines a public health, law enforcement, and educational problem of very great magni

tude.

Polydrug use, or use of two or more drugs on the same occasion, is

an especially dangerous form of alcohol and other drug use because the effects tend to be synergistic and thus unpredictable.

One percent of 7th, 7% of 9th

and 12% of 11th grade students reported polydrug use at least once per month. Polydrug use on 10 or more occasions in the previous 6 months was reported by 4.2% of 9th and 7% of 11th grade students. These figures are quite close to the daily use rates for marijuana, especially at grade 11.

Students who had used alcohol or other drugs were asked to give the age at which they first tried alcohol vs. other drugs and the age of first intoxication from alcohol vs. high from other drugs. By age 12, 58% of 7th graders had tried alcohol and 16% had been intoxicated; by age 14, 78% of 9th graders had tried alcohol and 47% had been intoxicated; and by age 16, 85% of 11th grade students had tried alcohol and 65% had been intoxicated. The parallel figures for drugs other than alcohol are: grade 7, 11% tried and 8% high; grade 9, 36% tried and 30% high; grade 11, 51% tried and 45% high.

When asked the drug on which they had first been intoxicated or high, 54% of 9th and 69.5% of 11th grade students responded by checking alcohol or some other class of drugs. Alcohol and marijuana were the two substances cited most frequently, with alcohol leading marijuana as the substance of first intoxication by a margin of approximately 3 to 1 (38% for alcohol vs. 14% for marijuana among 9th graders and 53% vs. 15% for 11th graders). If first intoxication is a significant step in the process of drug involvement, alcohol is the primary substance of initiation.

and ther

Perhaps most important, over half of 9th and over two-tired of graders reported that they had been intoxicated or high on alcohol or rug at least once. In the purely statistical sense having experienced form of intoxication is apparently "normal" by the 9th grade in California. If the statistical majority translates into a perceived norm for the majority of students, then the peer culture of most high schools is likely to be predominantly supportive of experimentation with alcohol and other drugs.

Cigarettes were used with much less frequency than alcohol at any grade level and less frequently than marijuana at grade 11. Only 16% of 78, 34% of 9th, and 31% of 11th grade students used any cigarettes at all during the previous six months. In sharp contrast to alcohol and other drugs, there was no meaningful increase in regular smoking between 9th and 11th grades. Only 13% of 9th graders and 14% of 11th graders reported smoking one or more cigarettes per day.

Ninety percent or more 9th and 11th grade students reported knowing at least some adults who used alcohol. Fifty-one percent of 9th and is of Alth

graders knew at least some adults who used marijuana. Adult models for the 132 of both types of substances are thus present in the environmen

udents.

Ninth and 11th grade students were asked to predict theory. blends' reactions to vignettes about (a) another studer L

signs of intoxication at school and other social events sad dent who drank or used regularly but did not show the effe: and 11th grade students, only about one-third thought ta

would accept or join the first type of student.

However, 39% of 9th and 48%

of 11th graders predicted that their best friends would accept or join the second type. In other words, by grade 11 almost half of the students believed that their closest friends would fully accept an individual who regularly used alcohol or other drugs in an "adult" manner, not showing the effects behaviorally.

never would.

Seventh grade students were asked whether they thought their best friends had already tried alcohol vs. marijuana, wanted to do so, or probably Thirty-four percent thought their best friends had already tried alcohol compared to 17% for marijuana. Only 20% predicted that their friends would never try alcohol compared to 47% who made the same prediction for marijuana. The peer climate in the 7th grade was more accepting of alcohol than marijuana use.

When asked about the harmfulness of regular alcohol vs. marijuana use, students at all three grade levels judged the latter to be more harmful, although by grade 11 the difference was smaller (52% considered regular marijuana use to be harmful compared to 44% for alcohol). There was also a significant drop between grades 7 and 9 in the percentage of students rating regular use of marijuana as harmful (from 71% down to 53%), probably many students begin experimenting with that substance during this period.

Students were asked whether they had learned about drugs from friends, parents, school classes, and their own experience. As grade level increased, school classes were cited less frequently (from 66% at grade 7 to 58% by grade 11), as were parents (from 38% to 29%). In contrast, friends were cited more

quently (from 32% to 66%) and so was "own experience" (from 14% to 38%). Still, school remained an important source of information throughout the three grade levels, exceeded only by friends at grade 11.

When asked where students in the school obtained drugs, the most frequent response among 9th and 11th grade students was "at school (friends, dealers)" given by 33% of 9th and 40% of 11th grade students. Parties and social events outside of school and friends outside of school attracted almost identical percentages of responses (27% at grade 9 and 328-33% at grade 11). Home was cited by only 5% of 7th and 7% of 9th and 11th grade students. There was thus no single, dominant source.

When asked reasons for not using alcohol or drugs, most students (79% at grades 7 and 11 and 73% at grade 9) cited fear of becoming an alcoholic or addict. Getting in trouble with police or school was cited by approximately 60% of students regardless of grade level. Losing friends was cited by 54% of 7th graders and 42%-43% of 9th and 11th graders. All of the former are extrinsic reasons. Each involves fear of negative consequences or disappointing others. Fewer students at grades 9 and 11 endorsed the intrinsic alternative, "would disappoint yourself because you have chosen not to drink or use drugs" (54% of 7th, 25% of 9th, and 30% of 11th grade students). It is likely that extrinsic reasons such as fear of consequences or hurting others are less resistant to change than intrinsic motivation to maintain one's chosen iden

tity.

There is reason to believe that 30% of 11th grade students are highly resistant to the use of alcohol and drugs. In addition to the 30% who gave an intrinsic reason for not drinking or using, an almost identical percentage