More schoolchildren smoked marijuana than cigarettes in the month before the National Drug Commission surveyed them, it was revealed yesterday.

And the 1997 survey of around 3,000 students in Bermuda aged between 11 and 19 also showed alcohol remained the drug-of-choice with more than a quarter of respondents having indulged in a tipple in the previous month.

But National Drug Commission chief executive officer Derrick Binns stressed that the long-awaited results from the survey of private and public school students found overall drug and alcohol use was less than in previous years.

Students were asked whether they had ever tried alcohol, tobacco or pot, and if they had used it in the 30 days immediately before the survey which meant they were counted as current users.

Just over 26 percent had consumed alcohol in the month before filling out the questionnaire while more than 14 percent said they had used marijuana in that period compared with only 11 percent who had smoked cigarettes.

Each of those figures was less than 1994 results.

The only increase was in marijuana use which, while dropping since 1994, had increased since the 1991 survey when only 9.7 percent of students were found to be current users.

Just over a quarter of 1997 students had dabbled with marijuana at some point -- less than in 1994 but more than 1991's result of 21.4 percent.

Experimenting with cigarettes had also dropped with 33.7 percent of 1997 students confirming they had smoked at least once compared with 43 percent in 1994.

Just over 65 percent of the youths said they had tried alcohol at least once in their life -- a significant drop from 1991 when more than three quarters of students ticked the yes box.

But the biggest drop recorded was in those students indicating they had used alcohol in the previous 30 days which in 1991 was more than one in every two students but in 1997 had decreased to roughly one in four.

Dr. Binns said it was "encouraging'' that the overall findings of the survey were positive, indicating a downward trend in alcohol and tobacco use among Bermuda's children.

"We believe we are seeing declines in the use of the most prevalent drugs by our young people. Since the decision to try drugs is an individual one, it is too early to say exactly why these trends are taking place.

"But we believe that overall, a combination of educational and preventative programmes being pursued in Bermuda by a variety of agencies is proving to be worthwhile.'' "The NDC is now able to more effectively monitor the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs by our students.'' And more information would be revealed over coming weeks.

"We are carrying out greater analyses of the survey responses to learn more about the extent of the use of these substances by our young people.'' DRUGS DGS