Pubdate: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 Source: Clarion News, The (PA) Copyright: 2007 The Clarion News Contact: http://www2.theclarionnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4402 Author: Amy A. Thompson, Clarion News writer STUDENT DRUG USE/EXPERIMENTATION ABOVE AVERAGE HERE COUNTYWIDE -- The percentage of Clarion County students who have tried or regularly use alcohol and other types of drugs is above state and national averages, according to a recent study. Pa. Youth Survey The Pennsylvania Youth Survey was taken at five of the seven school districts in Clarion County . At those schools, sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders were polled and 1,194 surveys were deemed valid. Sheila Snyder, representing Clarion Family Net and Clarion County's Promise which is under Family Net, and Patricia Anderson of the Clarion County Cooperative Extension are visiting Clarion County schools trying to garner support for partnerships which could obtain after-school grants aiming to keep students from falling into drug use. Anderson said at the Allegheny-Clarion Valley April 9 work session she and Snyder are hoping a task force can be created which works to obtain funding and develop after-school programming for prevention. "The best way to stop it is through prevention methods," Snyder said. Snyder and Anderson identified four domains which can be targeted for prevention including community, family, school and individuals/peers. Anderson said A-C Valley is one school which is already in "unique alignment" for grant funding because of its rural location, multi-county student population and because there are programs already in place such as the FIRST Program. "We're not here to shove anything down your throat," Snyder cautioned A-C Valley School Board members. The pair presented statistics from the survey taken in 2005. Alcohol Use According to the results of the survey, alcohol was top drug being tried or used among Clarion County students. The survey stated 40 percent of Clarion County sixth-graders said they have tried alcohol. The state average of sixth-graders who have tried alcohol is 24 percent. Data was not available for the national trends for sixth-graders. The number of sixth-graders who said they tried alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey was about 8 percent. The state average was 3 percent. Data was not available for the national trends for sixth-graders. In addition to recent use, about 3 percent of Clarion County sixth-graders claimed to have binge drank or consumed five or more drinks in a two-hour period within 30 days prior to taking the survey. The state average for binge drinking among sixth-graders is 1 percent. The percentage of eighth-graders who have tried alcohol was about 64 percent with the state average being about 53 percent and the national average being about 41 percent. The percentage of Clarion County eighth-graders who tried alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey was almost 20 percent with the state average being 15 percent, while the national average was 17 percent. Clarion County eighth-graders were below state and national averages for binge drinking. The percentage of eighth-graders who said they binge drank within 30 days prior to taking the survey was about 8 percent with the state being about 7 percent and almost 11 percent for the national average. The percentage of 10th-graders who have tried alcohol is about 76 percent with the state average being about 75 percent and the national trend being about 63 percent. The percentage of 10th-graders who said they binge drank within 30 days prior to taking the survey was about 39 percent while the state average was about 37 percent and the national average was about 33 percent. The percentage of 10th-grade binge drinkers was about 22 percent with the state average being about 20 percent and the national average being about 21 percent. About 86 percent of Clarion County 12-graders polled said they have tried alcohol while the average in the state is about 85 percent, while the national average is about 75 percent. The percentage of 12th-grade students who said they had consumed alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey was about 55 percent with the state average being about 54 percent and the national trend being about 47 percent. The percentage of 12th-grade students who said they binge drank within 30 days prior to the survey was about 39 percent with the state average being about 34 percent and the national trend being about 28 percent. Other Substances In addition to alcohol, the survey showed Clarion County students are using more hard drugs in comparison to the state and national averages, Snyder said. Some of the other drugs besides alcohol included cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, methamphetamines, ecstasy, steroids and illicit drugs. Snyder said each school tended to have a different type of drug problem. Snyder explained one school had an issue with heroin use, another with crack cocaine, another with cocaine and another with ecstasy. Besides the well-known drugs, Snyder said there is a trend among students to use drugs from the family medicine cabinet which may include left-over prescription medications. "This has become a huge health hazard across the nation," Snyder said. Snyder said youth have been known to hold "pharm parties" in which drugs, both prescription and non-prescription, are put into a bowl and mixed together. "This is very dangerous, really addictive. This is not good for the kids," Snyder said. Program Ideas Anderson said she believes students will attend after-school programs based on the "Healthy Lifestyles" program she helped facilitate last December. "I did not feel like a babysitting service," Anderson said. Anderson said the students who attended the program came to learn. In addition, Anderson said she believes those students who attend a program have a tendency to tell other students which increases interest. "I think there is some sustainability with that," Anderson said of positive student peer pressure. Anderson said an idea for programming is to link to aspects of the curriculum students are learning in school. Anderson gave an example of the book entitled "The Biggest Bear," which her children have read. The school could have the Pennsylvania Game Commission make a presentation about bears to tie in with the book, Anderson said. Snyder said there are many other successful prototypes of programs which can be used such as life skills programs and research-based programs. Right now the ideas are in the early stages. Anderson said the organizations would like to have an idea of who is going to participate in a partnership by this fall. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman