The most reliable measure of teen drug use is the Monitoring the Future Study referred to by others on this list. Lloyd Johnston is the principal investigator. The University of Michigan's Survey Research Center issues periodic news releases which summarize the findings of the 21-year long study. You can order these releases by phone at (313)763-5043. The findings over the last five years have shown a sharp rise in illegal drug use, especially marijuana use, even though these increases have yet to surpass levels measured in the late seventies. As Johnston points out, "they are still well below the peak levels attained in the late 1970s. We are in a relapse phase in the longer-term epidemic, if you will, but it is certainly not something over which society is powerless. Our great progress in the past at lowering the rates of illicit drug use among our young people is proof of that." He refers to their findings from between 1979 and 1992 which indicated that the proportion of 12th graders reporting use of any illicit drug in the previous 12 months fell by half, from 54 percent to 27 percent. Explanations for the current rise in illegal drug use should therefore start with the fundamental social and cultural changes of the sixties and seventies. Many of the same basic avenues through which people would become interested in illegal drugs have not changed fundamentally. The new generation of young people, however, are putting their own spin on what dominates in alternative subcultures these days. As critics of prohibition point out, much of the incentive comes through the stilted economic success realized by dealing illegal drugs. When faced with few opportunities in the legitimate economy, persons turn to the more promising underground economy, a prospect enhanced by the affirmation of cultural heroes like rock stars and their own sense of self-accomplishment. These daily examples of defiance of legally-acceptable standards of conduct reenforce the viability of the alternative world. Yet, the existence of prohibition alone does not explain current increases in teen use. The parent-child relationship of those who used in the sixties and seventies and those who may be more likely to use now may be part of the explanation as well. It may also be that the sheer size of both generations--the baby boomers and their children--permitted the formation of more drug subcultures. Drug use is a highly personal, subjective activity. We were reminded recently by the past marijuana use of Republican Susan Molinari that members of both major parties have been involved. Regardless of the explanation, the phenomenon of increased illegal drug use over the last thirty years arguably stands as one of the most distinctive features of postindustrial U.S. life. Mike Martin Temple U., History