WASHINGTON (Reuters):

Drug use among Ameri-can teenagers has fallen by nearly a quarter over the past five years, a study showed yesterday, although there was little improvement in the last year.

U.S. officials hailed the overall findings as a vindication of anti-drug policies, saying they had nearly reached President George W. Bush's goal of a 25 per cent drop over five years. But some voiced concern that budget cuts may be hurting the campaign against drugs.

The government-funded study, carried out by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that drug use among teens in 8th, 10th and 12th grades had dropped by more than 23 per cent since 2001.

Abuse of almost every illegal drug fell, although use of the prescription painkiller OxyContin rose among teenagers, the survey said.

Encouraging sign

"These decreases are an encouraging sign that the administration's ongoing efforts to combat drug abuse are helping American children stay away from drugs," said Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales.

The 23 per cent decline meant 840,000 fewer students were using illegal drugs this year than in 2001, according to the 2006 Monitoring the Future study, which questioned 48,460 students from 410 public and private schools.

"Today's news is good news for Democrats, for Republicans, for young, for old," said White House anti-drug czar John Walters. "There are about five people in America for whom this is bad news. They're idiots."

Despite the five-year drop, the study found little change in drug use among teenagers during the past year.

Marijuana use among older teens was down, but remained steady among younger teens for a second straight year. Use of LSD, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, heroin, inhalants, tranquilisers and sedatives showed little or no change.

The survey also found little change in teen attitudes about the harmfulness of drugs, a key predictor of future use.

Advertising budget cut

While the Bush administration has put great emphasis on the war on drugs, the advertising budget for the media campaign was cut from US$185 million in 2001 to about US$100 million in 2006.

"It's a lot of money," Walters said. "But it's peanuts compared to what we have to pay to clean up the damage if we don't do a good job of prevention."

The survey found consumption of marijuana, the drug most widely used by teens, had fallen 25 per cent over the past five years. Thirteen per cent of the students said they had used marijuana in the past 30 days, versus 26 per cent in 2001.

Use of amphetamines, especially methamphetamine, also plummeted since 2001. Less than one per cent of students said they had used methamphetamine at least once in the past 30 days.

One area of growth was prescription drugs. Four per cent of all of the teenagers said they had used OxyContin at least once in the last year, a 30 per cent rise over the past four years.

Use of the narcotic painkiller Vicodin remained steady, with 10 per cent of the older students reporting they had tried it at least once in the past year.

In addition to dramatic drops in the use of illegal drugs like LSD and ecstasy, the study also reported a fall in the use of cigarettes, alcohol and steroids.