SPARKS FLY OVER REPORTED RISE IN TEEN DRUG USE.

Byline: Associated Press

A 105 percent jump in teen-age drug use since 1992 instantly became a campaign issue Tuesday. GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole called it a ``national tragedy,'' and the White House warned against political grandstanding.

Dole, speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Louisville, Ky., said, ``This is nothing short of a national tragedy. Starting next January, I'm going to make the drug war priority No. 1 once again.''

The Clinton administration expressed concern about the new government report on drug use, released Tuesday, but said it was too important to be merely fodder for political attacks.

``The one thing we can't do is to turn drug use among young people into a political football because that is the wrong message for kids,'' said presidential spokesman Mike McCurry. ``They'll just think it's an issue for the politicians and not something that they have to accept responsibility for.''

``This is a bipartisan issue. These are all of our children,'' said Donna Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which produced the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

A second government report showed that visits to hospitals for drug-related emergencies also are up.

The drug abuse survey found that drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds rose 105 percent from 1992 to 1995. The increase was from 5.3 percent of those surveyed in 1992 to 10.9 percent in 1995. There were 22.2 million Americans in that age group last year and 20.7 million in 1992, according to government figures.

The survey of 17,747 people showed levels of drug use were about the same among white, African-American and Latino teens and in teens from different economic backgrounds. It also said:

Monthly use of LSD and other hallucinogens by 12th-graders jumped 100 percent, from 2 percent to 4 percent, between 1992 and 1995 and from 2.6 percent to 4 percent between 1994 and 1995.

Cocaine use among 12- to 17-year-olds rose 166 percent, from 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent, between 1992 and 1995. The rate for 1994 also was 0.3 percent.

Marijuana use among teens increased 150 percent, from 3.4 percent to 8.2 percent, in the 1992-95 period and 37 percent, from 6.0 percent to 8.2 percent, between 1994 and 1995. In 1994 alone, an estimated 2.3 million people started using marijuana.

There were about 10 million beer, wine and distilled spirit drinkers under age 21 last year. Of the total, 4.4 million were described as binge drinkers, including 1.7 million described as heavy drinkers.

The total number of occasional cocaine users - all ages - last year was 2.5 million.

Drug use was well below the peak levels of the late 1970s, Shalala said at a news conference releasing the survey. But she added that ``while the vast majority of young people do not use illicit drugs, increasing numbers are reaching for drugs and risking their futures. And that's wrong.''

Now that Dole has formally become the Republican nominee, his accusations could have a sharper impact.

In recent months, Republicans have used the issue of alleged drug use by some White House employees to imply that the administration is soft on the issue. At least 21 current or former White House aides have been subjected to heightened drug testing because their background security checks showed drug use recent enough to prompt Secret Service security concerns.