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A survey designed to assess drug and alcohol use among the 1,600,000 students in Grades 7 through 12 who attend New York State public schools was administered in 10i schools during the winter of 1974-75. Findings indicate that over 80% of the students have used alcohol and that almost one-third of the students have used marijuana at least once. In addition, 60% of the marijuana users have used no other substance, with the possible exception of alcohol. Also, if a student has used a substance, he is likely to have used it within the last 6 months. Finally, multiple substance use is not predominant among marijuana users, but is predominant among users of other substances.

Clinically, glucocorticoids are important immunosuppressive hormones. Yet, these steroids are also potent inhibitors of growth. We hypothesized that glucocorticoids may partially inhibit growth by increased somatostatin (SRIF) secretion. We tested this hypothesis using passive immunization techniques. Male rats (approximately 50 g) were treated daily (ip) for 33 days with saline (SAL) or dexamethasone (DEX, 40 micrograms/kg) and every fourth day with normal sheep serum (NSS) or SRIF antiserum (SRIF-ab, 0.25 ml). Body wts were recorded daily. Groups (n = 6) were: 1) SAL + NSS, 2) SAL + SRIF-ab, 3) DEX + NSS, and 4) DEX + SRIF-ab. Regression analysis of the growth curves clearly demonstrated differences in body wt gain for the four treatment groups (P less than 0.01). Final body wt of SAL + NSS treated rats was 285 +/- 5 g and 285 +/- 12 g in SAL + SRIF-ab treated rats. DEX + NSS treated rats weighed significantly less (227 +/- 4 g, P less than 0.01) than SAL-treated rats. This glucocorticoid-induced decrease in body wt was partially reversed by the concomitant treatment of rats with SRIF-ab (241 +/- 6 g, P less than 0.05). This observation leads to the conclusion that the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on growth may be mediated, in part, by increased SRIF secretion.