Don't get us wrong: The trends in drug use by American teens in 1995, 2000 and 2005 reported in the recently released, federally sponsored "Monitoring the Future'' survey of students in grades 8, 10 and 12 are positive, indeed. Americans teens are smoking less, and there has been a modest decline in illicit drug use. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the continuing decline "quite remarkable news.'' Yet there are areas of concern that, not surprisingly, follow adult habits. That's the kind of detail policymakers, and parents, tend to forget when trying to improve the health of children, especially as they traverse teen years.

According to the survey, there are continued higher rates, in each grade, of nonmedical use of prescription pain killers; and an increase in the use of sedatives/barbiturates among 12th-graders since 2001.

Of course, since such drugs are being more widely used by adults, they are more available to teens. No street drug deals, just turn to the home medicine chest or bureau drawer.

Likewise, there has been a shift in attitudes about prescription drugs throughout the culture. People are more routinely turning to such medications to calm down, deal with depression, stay awake, get to sleep or perform better. As Volkow told The New York Times, drugs "become part of our everyday lives. You see an ad for medication the way you see an ad for shampoo, and the message is that it's just like an everyday thing.''

Last summer, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University put the number of abusers of prescription drugs at 15.1 million people, 6 percent of Americans. Astonishingly, that exceeds the combined number of those abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin. Last year, there were several notable arrests in this region of teens charged with possessing and selling prescription medication, some in their own schools.

There's a related trend, of course, one that adults also must consider their role in creating: Internet sales of prescription medications. Easy, and cheaper, availability of drugs on-line for adults means the same kind of access for kids.

The new findings bear watching, since they tell us about adolescent and teen drug use. And our own.