ABSTRACT
The popularity of illicit drugs among juveniles has risen steadily in recent years. The rate of drug use by teenagers in the United States is the highest in the industrialized world (Flowers, 2000). According to a national survey conducted by the Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE), between 1998 and 1999 more than 40 percent of twelfth-grade students used at least one illicit drug in the previous year. Over 35 percent of students in grades nine to twelve and more than 16 percent of students in grades six to eight had used one or more drugs during the previous year. More than 20 percent of students in grades nine to twelve had used an illegal drug in the previous month (PRIDE Surveys, 2000).
