ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS
The MTF study asks questions concerning the perceived harmfulness
("great risk") in using selected drugs at varying frequencies;
the disapproval ("disapprove" or "strongly disapprove")
of people who use drugs at varying levels of frequency; and the perceived
availability ("fairly easy" or "very easy" to
get) of selected drugs. Specific findings include:
Harmfulness. The level of perceived harm or risk in using specific drugs remained
stable between 1999 and 2000 for most categories of harm and type
of drug among all grades. The exceptions include:
- Cocaine: Among 10th graders, taking crack cocaine occasionally declined
3 percent (from 79.1% to 76.9%); trying cocaine powder once or twice
declined 5 percent (from 51.6% to 48.8%); and taking cocaine powder
occasionally declined 4 percent (from 73.6% to 70.9%).
- Steroids: Among 12th graders, taking steroids declined 7 percent (from
62.1% to 57.9%).
Disapproval. The level of disapproval of people who use drugs remained
stable between 1999 and 2000 for most frequencies of use and selected
drugs.
The
exceptions include:
- Marijuana: Among 8th graders, disapproval of trying marijuana once or twice
increased 3 percent (from 70.7% to 72.5%). This is the continuation
of a trend started in 1997 when 67.6 percent of 8th graders expressed
disapproval-an increase of 7 percent through 2000. This increase
follows a steady decline from 1991 through 1996 in this measure.
Among 12th graders, disapproval of trying marijuana increased 8
percent (from 48.8% to 52.5%), reversing the trend observed through
the previous 9 years.
