Parents today do not want their kids using drugs - any drugs. But the data indicate that they do not regard drug use as seriously as past generations of parents.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America on Tuesday released its 17th annual tracking study of parents' attitudes toward drugs and teen drug use, noting that parents today are the most drug-experienced generation.

"While the vast majority of parents have left old habits behind, they're carrying old attitudes and beliefs forward," said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership. "If old habits die hard, the data suggest that lax attitudes about drugs die even harder."

Only Half Worry About Marijuana Use

The 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) surveyed 1,205 parents across the country (margin of error = + or - 2.8 percent).

Top-line findings of the nationally projectable study show the following:

• Today's parents see less risk in drugs like marijuana, cocaine and even inhalants, when compared to parents just a few years ago.

• The number of parents who report never talking with their child about drugs has doubled in the past six years, from 6 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2004.

• Just 51 percent of today's parents said they would be upset if their child experimented with marijuana.

• While most parents believe it's important that parents discuss drugs with their children, fewer than one in three teens (roughly 30 percent) say they've learned a lot about the risks of drugs at home.

First-Hand Knowledge

Many of today's parents with pre-teens and teens were high school students themselves during the late '70s and early '80s -- a period when teen drug use reached its absolute high point, according to the Partnership. In fact, when compared to high school seniors today, teen drug use rates were significantly higher in the late '70s and early '80s.

"It's not all that uncommon today to come across teenagers who've never used drugs who have parents who have," Pasierb said.

While few of today's parents use drugs today (11 percent report smoking marijuana in the past year), 58 percent have tried marijuana at least once in their lives, according to the Partnership's study. Significant percentages report trying other illicit substances as well.

Disconnect with Reality

Despite their first-hand knowledge about the issue, the Partnership's study finds that today's parents significantly underestimate the presence of drugs in their teens' lives.

• Just one in five parents (21 percent) believes their teenager has friends who use marijuana. Yet 62 percent of teens report having friends who use the drug.

• Fewer than one in five parents (18 percent) believe their teen has smoked marijuana, yet many more (39 percent) already are experimenting with the drug.

• This perceptual disconnect is even more pronounced when it comes to drugs that weren't around when today's parents were teenagers. Only one in every 100 parents -- one percent -- believes their teen may have used MDMA, commonly referred to as Ecstasy. The reality is quite different: Some nine percent of all teens -- 2.1 million teens in America -- used Ecstasy for the first time last year, down from a peak of 12 percent in 2001.

Different Drug Scene

Pasierb noted that the drug scene in America is vastly different today than it was back in the late '70s and '80s. "Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine -- parents know these drugs," he said.

"Today's teens, however, are exposed to new drugs of abuse -- Ecstasy, GHB, crystal meth and, increasingly, a wide variety of prescription and over-the-counter medications. In total, parents are seeing less risk in a variety of drugs and fewer parents are talking with kids just when teens are facing new drugs and new drug threats. All of this adds up to a potentially dangerous convergence in the trends -- one that we must interrupt," Pasierb warned.

The Partnership's tracking data underscore the powerful influence parents can have on teen decision-making about drugs. Teens who report learning a lot about the risks of drugs at home are up to half as likely to use drugs, according to the data.

"To be clear, parents don't want their kids using drugs -- any drugs," Pasierb said. "But the data tell us today's parents don't regard drug use as seriously as past generations of parents. Our challenge is getting parents to look at this issue anew, and in ways that penetrate their current beliefs and attitudes."