The New Pagans Fall 1997

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Choose your fix: Marx's opiate or Colombia's. Recent studies show youth today tend to choose one or the other—religion or the reefer. It's about filling the soul; youth seem bent on addressing the void they sense in their lives, one way or another.

Several recent studies show that teen drug use has increased significantly in recent years. For example, marijuana use among eighth graders has nearly tripled since 1991. In addition, several recent reports suggest that school-based efforts to curb drug use are not working. In fact, one recent study conducted by the Research Triangle Institute found that young people who have completed the widely used Drug Abuse Resistance Education (d.a.r.e.) program actually report higher rates of marijuana usage than young people who have not gone through the program.

Ironically, at the same time public officials are having difficulty combating the rise in drug use among youth, the National Institute for Healthcare Research reports a growing number of studies showing that drug use remains low among teens who frequently attend religious services.

For example, a recent University of Louisville study finds that teens from "actively religious" families are far less likely to experiment with illegal drugs than those who rarely or never go to church. A study in the British Journal of Addiction reports that young people who frequently attend church are far less likely than other youth to use cannabis, hallucinogens, and other illegal drugs. And a study in the journal Sociological Perspectives shows that "religiosity" has a stronger and more consistent effect in deterring teens from using illegal drugs than any other factor.

Now, at first glance, these findings may not seem all that significant. ...

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