According to the report from the Education and Justice departments, 22 percent of students in grades 9-12 said they used marijuana in 2003, up from 18 percent in 1993. One-third of students in grades 9-12 said someone had offered them an illegal drug on school property in 2003, a percentage that has remained about the same over the past decade.

The report also found that 45 percent of high-school students reported having at least one alcoholic drink in 2003, roughly the same as in 1993 but down from a 1995 high of 52 percent.

The report found a decline in school violence. There were 24 crimes of rape, sexual assault, robbery, and physical assault for every 1,000 students in 2002, a drop from 42 per 1,000 in 1992. "We attribute a lot of that to the fact that schools are focusing on the issue more," said William Lassiter, school safety specialist at the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, North Carolina.

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