Pubdate: Wed, 04 Oct 2006
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact:  http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: John Asbury, Jim Miller, The Press-Enterprise

DRUG-USE REPORT SURVEYS TEENS

STUDY: Wednesday's Results Indicate Student Alcohol And 
Illegal-Substance Abuse Remains A Problem.

SACRAMENTO - A statewide survey released Wednesday  showed 
prescription-drug abuse is prevalent among  teens, while the abuse of 
alcohol and marijuana has  leveled off.

The survey conducted between September 2005 and  February polled 
10,638 teens at 113 middle and high  schools. It indicated that 
prescription painkillers  were abused by 15 percent of 11th-graders 
surveyed, 9  percent of the ninth-graders and 4 percent of the seventh-graders.

While the survey did not reflect results from specific  regions, 
Riverside County officials said they are  awaiting the results of 
their own California Health  Kids Survey.

Those results are expected to mirror many of those on  the statewide 
survey, said Sherry Colgan Stone, the  safe schools coordinator for 
the Riverside County  Office of Education.

Wednesday's results showed alcohol and illegal-drug  abuse remained a 
problem, though consumption overall  has dipped from past years. 
Alcohol remains the leading  substance abused by teens. Sixty percent 
of  11th-graders, 47 percent of ninth-graders and 27  percent of 
seventh-graders said they had consumed  alcohol in the last six months.

"We're concerned about the high rate of underage users,  and we do 
need some intervention," said Meredith Rolft,  education 
administrator for the state Department of  Education's Safe and 
Healthy Kids Office.

In 1992, the fourth year the survey was conducted, 76.5  percent of 
11th-graders reported they drank alcohol, 67  percent of 
ninth-graders said they did, as did 53  percent of seventh-graders.

Alcohol and drug use saw a small drop or stayed about  the same for 
high school grades from last year, but the  use of beer and marijuana 
among seventh-graders rose  slightly, said Robin Schwanke, staff 
services analyst  for the state attorney general's office.

Excessive alcohol consumption is another alarming trend  being 
targeted, Colgan Stone said. Though binge  drinking dropped 3 
percentage points among  11th-graders, it held steady at 14 percent 
for  ninth-grade students surveyed.

California last year received $52 million in federal  aid for 
alcohol- and drug-abuse prevention funding,  which was later 
distributed to education offices and  school districts.

To combat teen substance abuse, education officials are  promoting 
student-assistance programs statewide and  across the Inland Empire. 
Several San Bernardino city  and Riverside county schools have 
youth-mentoring  programs and intervention referral treatment for 
students who may be battling substance abuse. Riverside  County 
educators are promoting self-awareness and  motivational tools to 
deter dangerous behavior.

"It may sound warm and fuzzy, but it really is the  prescription to 
combat peer pressure and make the right  decisions," Colgan Stone said.

Aleksandra Drecun, a psychology professor at Mount San  Antonio 
College in Walnut and alcohol and drug  specialist with UC Riverside, 
said not enough is being  done as a society to combat alcohol and 
substance abuse  and said the latest results are alarming.

"As a society we are not adequately reaching, educating  or serving 
our children and their families,  particularly those that are at high 
risk for substance  use and abuse," Drecun said. "We need to target 
families and utilize them as a support system alongside  our 
children, if we want to be successful."

In Sacramento, officials called for school districts to  create more 
student assistance programs to help  children and teens with 
substance-abuse problems.

"Our schools need to be prepared so that when our kids  ask for help 
or when we can identify these early  warning signals, we can provide 
the necessary  assistance to our students," said Jack O'Connell, the 
state superintendent of public instruction.

"It's telling us for the first time that we're seeing  painkillers, 
prescription-drug use, in a higher level  than what we have seen in 
the past. We've seen this  nationally, but it's the first time in 
California,"  O'Connell said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine