Over the last week or so at work, there have been various discussions about smoking, drinking and other sins of the world. The interns (all 19 or 20-year old college students) are appalled that a few of the adults in the office smoke cigarettes. This is a little different from about seven years ago when the high school kids I worked with were always asking me to buy them smokes. One has to wonder if all the anti-smoking propaganda is actually making an impact or if this is just another one of those ebb and flow things.

The interns, for the most part, are very clean with their habits. It's hard for them to get alcohol because someone has to buy it for them--and their tastes are typical cheap and nasty fare: Boone's Farm wine, assorted wine coolers and cheap beer. One believes that hard liquor is the only bad kind of alcohol and doesn't consider drinking beer or wine as "drinking," which I thought was an interesting way to deny the whole drinking question. And none of them really encounter marijuana or other illicit drugs in their regular life. This is a non-random sample, by the way, nothing scientific about it other than using a little psychology to get the interns to talk (they don't really need much prodding, by the way).

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest findings on drug, cigarette and alcohol use among high school students this week, and some of the numbers are spooking people.

While alcohol use has remained steady from 1991 to 1999, marijuana and cocaine use has risen. In 1991, 14.7% said they use the wacky weed, which steadily increased to 26.7% in 1999. Cocaine's numbers are smaller, but it rose from 1.7% to 4% over the same time period.

My explanation for this rise is the economy (isn't that always the way?). Because of the booming economy, kids get more money from their parents. They don't, necessarily, have to work as much for it, so there is more downtime. And, since it's much easier for a high school kid to get illegal drugs than it is to get alcohol (there is no extra, age-appropriate, middle man needed with drugs), that's where the extra money goes.

The upside is that fewer teens are having sex, more of them (who are) use condoms, fewer carry weapons or contemplate suicide. This, I think, also has do to the rosy economy. Teens can see that having kids too early (the obvious side-effect of unprotected sex) might hurt their chances of getting a good job, having the great life, and getting in on the latest IPO. They don't feel as threatened because crime is down (also an economic spin-off--if you have a job, you don't need to rob anyone) and there's no reason to kill yourself if you want to be a millionaire by age 25. That can wait until you're 30 and have credit card debt up the wazoo.

But smoking is up from 1991. Teen smoking numbers peaked in 1997 (this survey takes place every two years, which is why we're getting 1999 data now) and was down from there in 1999. So maybe there is a trend beginning, but we'll have to wait a couple more years to find out.

The House passed a measure to eliminate estate and gift taxes by the end of the decade (this would be 2010, not next year). This means that if you have an estate worth more than $675,000, your kids and kids won't have to pay tax on whatever you leave them. But don't die for ten years, most of the cut comes at the end of the decade. At the moment, estates worth less than $675,000 are not taxed, meaning this only benefits 2% of the estates in the country. So it sounds really good, but really it's taking another tax from rich people. I should say, for the sake of fairness, that my one remaining grandma is in this small percentage--so hold on for another 10 years! We'll make it!

I don't know if this will do anything to the teen smoking, drugging, drinking rate, but it might make a few of them think about their future and all that inheritance they'll get in 50 years...what am I talking about? Kids never think about their future, it's all about getting paid right now.

Which brings me to my last point (kind of). A few years ago, a local artist was commissioned to erect an art piece on the UNM campus. When he put it up, there were additions to his original outline (wow, he didn't totally follow his written outline, how strange for an artist), including a string of barbed wire along the top. The piece, called "Cultural Crossroads of America," has stood on the UNM grounds, barbed wire intact, for a couple years as the university hassled the artist to take the barbed wire off. They withheld the last payment (worth about $42,000) in a ransom tactic to get their way. In mid-May, the artist relented (he wanted to get paid, duh) and the barbed wire is now gone. I should say that no one except the UNM board of regents had a big problem with this art piece.

Again, it's the economy, but I think there might have been a little bit of recreational drinking and drug use involved. Of course, we're talking about adults here, not teens. Adults indulging in their favorite recreation is totally different, because we're adults. We've been here before. We know what we're doing.

Matt Worley got a new driver's license this week because people were having a hard time believing he was an adult with his old one.