School authorities often refuse to face the problem; government drug abuse agencies have d

one all too little to inform. the public about it; many physicians still seem unaware of it when they examine teenagers. As a result, parents may still be the last to know that their children have fallen victim to the drug epidemic that has been raging for more than a decade among American's youth. In a 1980 survey of a middle income Cincinnati suburb, 38 per cent of the sixth grade and 89 per cent of the senior class said they used drugs and/or alcohol; 48 per cent of the parents thought their children used alcohol, but only 8 per cent thought their children used drugs.

Fortunately, there is a new force at work against this epidemic — a nationwide movement of more than 400 parent groups formed to expose and battle drug use among teenagers and preteens. The groups, ranging in size from 15 members to more than 800, have different approaches and widely varying rates of success. Yet this parental crusade is the only major force in the country to have taken active, organized and effective steps aimed at stopping marijuana use.

Why the concentration on marijuana？ Because it is the illegal drug most used by kids. According to the 1982 National High School Senior Survey, 44 per cent of U.S. high school seniors had smoked pot during the year, and one out of seven of these were daily or near daily smokers.

Moreover, in 1982, sociologists, Richard Clayton and Harwin Voss, reported a close related connection between pot smoking and subsequent use of cocaine and heroin by young men. Of those who had smoked pot fewer than 100 times, seven per cent had graduated to cocaine, four per cent to heroin. But of those who had smoked pot at least 1,000 times, the equivalent of once a day for those years, 73 per cent had gone on to cocaine, and one out of three had graduated to heroin. (Although heroin use among high school seniors is minimal— 0.6 per cent in the past year — multi drug use is "in.")

Parent groups have found that by stopping their kids from smoking pot, they almost automatically stop all other illegal drugs and cut down on alcohol use as well. The High School Senior Survey's statistics show that heavy pot smokers tend to be heavy drinkers, while those who do not use pot tend not to drink heavily.

Since virtually all over the country teenager "partying" has come to mean "getting smashed and getting stoned" — on anything from pot to pills, hashish, ISD, angel dust and alcohol — some parent groups home in on the partying aspect. Parents Who Care (PWC) was started in November 1979 by 15 Palo Alto, Calif. parents who were upset by stories of drugs senior proms. They held talk sessions with their children and learned, as founder Joann Lundgren observed, that most of them had never been to a party where the main activity was not getting high.

The parents' solution: workshops showing kids how to give successful drug and alcohol free parties. Says Margery Ranch, PWC director: "We've seen a change in attitude. Young people are feeling more comfortable saying no."

What does "the problem" in the first line refer to？

A．The fact that government drug abuse organizations are reluctant to inform. the public of the drug taking phenomenon among teenagers.

B．The fact that many doctors are ignorant of the drug taking phenomenon among teenagers.

C．The fact that many parents are ignorant of the drug taking phenomenon among their children.

D．The fact that many young people have yielded to the wide use of drugs.