Milwaukee Teens Use Pot More Than U.S. Peers

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Milwaukee -- High school students in Wisconsin's largest city use more marijuana than their peers nationally, according to a new report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Twenty-nine percent of Milwaukee's high school students say they currently smoke marijuana, compared with 22 percent nationally,
according to the study. And 52 percent say they have tried the drug at least once, compared with 40 percent nationally, 37 percent in Boston, 30 percent in New York City and 43 percent in Los Angeles.
This was the first time Milwaukee was included in the survey, which questioned close to 1,500 Milwaukee Public School students as
well as more than 15,000 students in public and private schools in 31 other states in 2003. Students participated voluntarily and were allowed to remain anonymous.
The margin of error for most of the survey results was 3 or 4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence of accuracy.
Some say Milwaukee's history contributed to the greater marijuana usage by students.
"What made Milwaukee famous?" said Ladd White, an alcohol and other drug abuse counselor at the Child & Adolescent Center in Oconomowoc. "Part of it is our culture: We're the beer-drinking capital of the world. We're the party state. The overall mentality is, 'It's OK to mood alter."'
Others say some students don't consider marijuana as a drug anymore.
Milwaukee Police Officer Malcolm Morgan said he has seen children smoking marijuana while walking to school in the morning. He also is surprised by how young some of the children are.
"These kids are so young you can't even write them a ticket," he said, noting that the minimum age to issue a ticket is 12.
The CDC survey shows 13 percent of Wisconsin students report smoking marijuana before age 13, compared with 9 percent in 2003 and 5 percent a decade ago.
The students also report they are being offered drugs in school more than ever. Nationally, 29 percent of students surveyed in 2003 said they were offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property in the last 12 months. One in three students in Milwaukee
said the same.

09/06/2004
http://www.cbs58.com/cbsdata.cgi?_dh...inenew_id=5936