Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 1999
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Kate Campbell

DRUG SURVEY RESULTS WORRY JENKINTOWN

JENKINTOWN  -- School district officials have released the results of
a drug survey that showed alcohol to be the drug of choice for the
majority of students in grades six through 12.

Alcohol use exceeded the national average among Jenkintown's eighth
through 12th graders, district officials said at a meeting Monday.

The PRIDE survey, conducted by the Atlanta-based National Parents'
Resource for Drug Education, was administered to 285 Jenkintown
students in February.

This was the fourth year students in Jenkintown participated in the
survey. The tiny district, which has only two schools, had a total
enrollment of 610 this year. In addition to which drugs were used, the
report also included statistics on when they were used, their
accessibility, and students' perception of the danger of drugs.

"Fifty-five percent of eighth graders thought it was very easy to get
beer," said Judy Meier, Jenkintown High School guidance counselor.
Equally troubling, Meier said, was a dramatic jump in drug and alcohol
use between the seventh and eighth grades.

"As students get older, they don't worry as much" about the harmful
effects of substance abuse, she said of the survey's findings. "There
is use, and it does exist here."

Sixty-one percent of 10th graders said they used marijuana, the survey
found, almost twice the national average of 33 percent. Among high
school seniors, 55 percent said they smoked marijuana, compared with a
national average of 38 percent, Meier said. Because some students
exaggerated in the anonymous survey, administrators said, a margin of
error should be expected.

Although the survey indicated that drug use in Jenkintown occurs
mostly on weekends and less frequently at school, the small group of
parents in attendance at Monday's meeting were concerned. The bulk of
the responsibility for addressing drug and alcohol awareness, one
mother said, was with the parents.

"The teachers are doing everything they can," said parent Gigi Burns,
who added that she had tried to get district administrators to focus
on a local drug and alcohol problem.

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