Pubdate: Wed, 13 Apr 2005
Source: San Juan Journal (WA)
Copyright: 2005 San Juan Journal
Contact:  http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2456
Author: Richard Walker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG USE RISING AMONG TEENS, SURVEY SAYS

More Island Teens Are Doing Drugs.

So says a 2004 survey of sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders on San 
Juan Island. And those survey results will be unveiled in an annual 
Community Forum April 25, 6 p.m., in the Friday Harbor High School Commons. 
The forum is open to the public.

The forum is sponsored by the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition, Friday 
Harbor High School, H.O.T.S. (Helping Out Teens), and San Juan County.

At the forum, Sheriff Bill Cumming and Prevention Coordinator Eden Bailey 
will present the results of the Healthy Youth Survey, which is administered 
by each Washington school district every two years. The last survey was 
done in 2002 and a forum followed in spring 2003.

Cumming and Bailey will also discuss the prevention coalition's Strategic 
Plan for addressing substance abuse on the island. A drug identification 
kit will be on display so viewers can see what certain drugs look like.

"We have a drug problem on the island," Prevention Coalition Director Susie 
Teague said of the survey results. "Alcohol and marijuana are the two 
most-used drugs, but there's been an increase in meth use too. Some 
students said they have used cocaine."

Teague would not disclose survey results, saying they would be released at 
the forum. The survey results were compiled by RMC Research Corp.

The survey results come amid reports from the Sheriff's Department of 
growing meth use in the San Juans. The Sheriff's Department is holding 
methamphetamine information classes April 13 at Friday Harbor Fire 
Department, 10 a.m.; Orcas Island Fire Department, 1 p.m.; and in the 
County Commissioners' Hearing Room, County Courthouse, 5 p.m.

And in a non-scientific survey on sanjuanjournal.com, readers have thus far 
voted 101-24 in favor of the Sheriff's Department being budgeted money for 
a narcotics officer to investigate drug crimes on the islands.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom