PICKENS - Although a recent county survey showed Pickens County school students to be below the state in marijuana usage in most areas, the prevention director of the county's Behavioral Health Services said they are taking steps to reduce those numbers even further.

A recent county survey, the first conducted among Pickens County school students from the sixth-through 12th-grade since 1993, reported that 11 percent of students had smoked marijuana within the last 30 days compared to 12.3 statewide; 42 percent of 12th-grade students had smoked marijuana at some point in the past, slightly below the state average of 42.9 percent; and 14.8 percent of Pickens County students reported driving after using drugs - slightly higher than the state average of 14.1 percent.

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