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Drug use among California teens is down for the first time in a decade, according to a report released Monday by the state attorney general’s office. 

But there’s some bad news in the study: Heroin use among 11th graders increased while the numbers of students with excessive alcohol and drug habits stayed about the same. 

The 8th biennial California Student Survey questioned 12,777 students in grades 7, 9 and 11 and found that overall drug use was down, mostly due to decreased use of marijuana and inhalants 

Twenty percent of the 7th graders, 26 percent of the 9th graders and 39 percent of the 11th graders reported using an illegal drug at least once in the previous six months. 

That represented a drop in drug use in all three grades from a survey in 1997-98. 

Alcohol use dropped for the first time in 15 years. Thirty-five percent of 7th graders, 52 percent of 9th graders and 66 percent of 11th graders reported drinking alcohol in the previous six months. 

Those figures represented at least a 10 percent drop in all three grades for virtually every beverage category. 

Marijuana use dropped by more than 12 percent among 9th graders; only 20 percent reported using the drug in the last six months, according to the report. Among high school juniors marijuana use dropped 7 percent, down from 35 percent last year. 

“Our prevention strategies appear to be reaching young people who are casual users,” said Attorney General Bill Lockyer. “However, the number of students who report using drugs or alcohol on a daily or weekly basis remains unacceptably high. We need to devote more attention to these students before their problems escalate and threaten their future.” 

Critics of student surveys have said they can’t be depended upon because students would be unwilling to admit their drug use. Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said the survey researchers work hard to convince students the tests are only part of a large survey and not inspected individually. 

“With as long as we have been doing this, our researchers are convinced that these results are as dependable as any survey can be,” Barankin said. 

Heroin use among 11th graders jumped from 1.7 percent in 1997-98 to 5.2 percent in the latest survey, which covered 1999 and this year.