"When asked the basis on which they form their moral choices, nearly half of all adults (44%) cited their desire to do whatever will bring them the most pleasing or satisfying results. Roughly one-sixth of the adult public (17%) bases its moral decisions on what they believe will make other people happy or minimize interpersonal conflict. The same percentage (17%) credits the values they were taught by their family as the dominant influence on their moral considerations. About one out of four adults (24%) lean primarily upon religious principles and teaching or Bible content when making moral decisions."

(Source: "Practical Outcomes Replace Biblical Principles As the Moral Standard," Barna Research Group of Ventura, California [www.barna.org], September 10, 2001.)

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout law, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

(Source: The Boy Scout Oath, quoted in Angie Vineyard, "Morally Straight," The Charlotte World, September 14, 2001, p. 1.)

According to the United States government, what adolescents think about drug use actually does influence their decisions-and actions.  Drawn from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services' 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), the government researchers state, "Substance use has been shown to be closely related to the perception of risk associated with use; substance use is generally lower among those who perceive great risk associated with use."

Indeed, the greater the risk is perceived to be, the less likely a teenager is to partake of the substance.  This seems to have a sort of crossover effect, where the opinion concerning illegal drugs affected the use of legal (for adults) substances: "According to the 1999 NHSDA, use of illicit drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol was lower among youths who perceive great risk from smoking marijuana once or twice a week than among those who perceived moderate, slight, or no risk."

While the majority of American adolescents, aged 12 to 17, does perceive a great risk from using illicit drugs, that majority has thinned over the years.  In 1995, 58.5 percent of kids viewed marijuana use as very risky--only 52.6 percent agreed with them in 1999.  The perceived risk of cocaine use has dropped as well: from 84 percent perceiving grave risk in 1994 to 80.4 percent in 1999.  This is mirrored by "the increasing rate of past month marijuana/hashish use among youth during this time period, from 6 percent in 1994 to 7 percent in 1999...."

The report is careful to point out that adolescent perceptions alone are not a sufficient explanation or cause of the increase in certain drug usage.  Nevertheless, statistics for the perception, and use, of marijuana, cocaine, LSD, heroin, and "other illicit drugs" reflect the reality of perceptions-what one believes affects what one does.

(Source: "The NHSDA Report: Beliefs Among Youths About Risks From Illicit Drug Use," Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 13, 2001, www.samhsa.gov/oas/beliefs.cfm.)