Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Eagle-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.eagletribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/129
Author: Shawn Regan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

MORE TEENS USING DRUGS, SURVEY SAYS

HAVERHILL -- More city teens are saying they have used hard drugs --
cocaine, heroin, LSD or ecstasy -- at least once in the last month,
according to a survey of high-schoolers released yesterday.

But Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the way to
fight the teen drug problem is not to subject students to random drug
testing as has been proposed by School Committeeman Scott Wood.
Blodgett said education is the key. "I don't see drug testing as being
the solution," Blodgett said. Wood proposed random or suspicion-based
drug testing of students, in part because of the results of last
year's survey showing increase in drug use. A task force made up of
educators, officials and parents is now discussing ways to combat drug
use including drug testing.

This year's increase showed 19 percent of students surveyed -- or
about one in five -- had tried a hard drug in their life, up from 15
percent in 2002 and 17 percent in 2003. Thirteen percent said they had
used one of those drugs in the previous 30 days -- up from 8 percent
in 2002 and 9 percent in 2003. Rather than testing, Blodgett said he
advocates a program to educate young people on the dangers of drug
addiction, including kids as young as 10 and 11. "And to make them
understand that (the prescription painkiller) OxyContin, heroin and
other opiates ... it's just not the way to go." Dr. Patricia B. Cronin
of the North Essex Prevention Coalition, who oversaw administering of
the survey at the high school, agrees. She blamed the rise in reported
drug use on deep cuts in health and educational programs that began
around 2002.

"In the last two years we have lost almost all of our money for
programs in the middle schools and for programs that allowed us to
work with the Police Department and with community groups like
Community Action," she told the School Committee last night. "The
result is that we are seeing a lot of our data inching up."

The voluntary survey is given to high school and seventh-grade
students in their homerooms. A total of 1,079 high-schoolers and 488
seventh-graders completed it. About 75 percent of kids who were in
school the day the test was administered took it, representing about
63 percent of the high school class. Besides hard-drug use, the survey
also asks whether the student has used marijuana, cigarettes,
over-the-counter medicines or sniffed household products to get high.
"Medicines are the next drug of choice among young people," she said.
"Inhalants are found in the garage and under the kitchen sink, and
medicines are in every home's medicine cabinet."

Cronin said the survey asks about alcohol, illegal drug and tobacco
use, peer influence, perceived parental response to use,
traffic-safety behaviors, violence including fighting and vandalism,
gambling, harassment and date violence. Of all the categories, Cronin
said she was most concerned with an increase in the number of students
who reported they had ridden in an automobile with another student who
was drinking alcohol.

Cronin characterized the results as conservative because the kids who
declined to take the survey or who were not in school when it was
given are those who are the most likely to be engaging in negative
behaviors, she said. The margin of error on the survey is plus or
minus 2.5 percent, she said. Last night, the School Committee directed
administrators to develop a new plan for addressing the survey
results, focusing on regular mailings to parents about drug and
alcohol issues, adding education programs at the middle schools,
bringing guest speakers in to talk to students and planning special
after-school events.

Officials said they will put the survey into a brochure and send it to
parents of all high school and middle school students over the next
few weeks.

About the survey

Haverhill's high school and seventh-grade students took the voluntary survey
in their homerooms. A total of 1,079 high-schoolers and 488 seventh-graders
completed it. About 75 percent of students who were in school the day the
test was administered took it, representing about 63 percent of the high
school population.

It showed: r 19 percent of high school students, or about one in five,
reported they have used a hard drug such as cocaine, heroin, LSD or
ecstasy at least once in their lives -- up from 15 percent in 2002 and
17 percent in 2003. r 13 percent said they had used one of those drugs
in the previous 30 days -- up from 8 percent in 2002 and 9 percent in
2003.

- - Number of students who said they rode in an automobile with a fellow
student who had been drinking alcohol increased from 19 percent in
2003 to 24 percent in 2004.

- - The largest jump in drug use among high school students over the
pervious year was in the category of inhalants -- common household
aerosol products sniffed to get high. Seventeen percent of
high-schoolers said they used an inhalant in their lifetime, up from
13 percent in 2003. Twelve percent said they had used an inhalant in
the last month, up from 7 percent in 2003. r Another big jump was in
the use of medicines such as cough suppressants and allergy medicine
or a combination of the two to get high. Sixteen percent of
high-schoolers reported they used medicines to get high, up from 13
percent in 2003 and 12 percent in 2002.

- - Alcohol remains the most commonly used substance by Haverhill teens,
just as it is in Massachusetts and the country. Two of five
high-schoolers reported they drank alcohol at least once in the
previous 30 days, and nine of 10 said they drank until they were drunk.

- - Almost half of high-schoolers, 46 percent, said they have smoked
marijuana in their lifetime, down from 49 percent in 2003. One in four
high-schoolers said they smoked pot in the preceding month.

- - Cigarette and cigar smoking was up in both the lifetime and
previous-30-day categories for both high school and seventh-grade
students. r Fighting and intentional property damage declined among
Haverhill high-schoolers, with levels well below state averages.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin