Abstract
This follow-up survey was undertaken to assess the changes in knowledge and existing attitudes or opinions about drugs by freshmen through seniors from the same high school previously reported in a 1971 study. The student body consisted of 1188 students. The results revealed that 60 percent of the student body possessed knowledge of the drug culture with very little difference from one grade to the next yet did display a reduction in awareness from one study to the next. In comparison to the 1971 study, there was a decrease in interest in all phases of drug usage. Noticeable changes between the two groups revealed a lessening in knowledge by the 1974 group concerning the effects of drugs, legal implications, and terminology. The largest change in inventoried behaviors was revealed in the attitude portion of the survey. The 1974 study data indicated a softening of youth attitudes toward authority and a disinterest in drugs. The results tend to support the present downward trend in the use of hard drugs and at the same time the continued use of marijuana.
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