Survey Results Show Teen Drug And Alcohol Use

By Tanjua Damon

Raw data from an alcohol and drug survey administered to students in grades seven through 12 has finally arrived in the district. The results bring cause for concern to district officials.

Although the district has not obtained all the information, some of the data it has received show that Newtown students are using alcohol and drugs. The district used the Governor’s Prevention Initiative for Youth (GPIY) survey that was administered in early April 2002 to approximately 1,000 students in seventh through twelfth grade. Approximately 14,000 students statewide participated in the survey.

The Newtown Board of Education was provided with a copy of the results, as well as eight areas that stand out after the first reading, by District Health Coordinator Judy Blanchard and Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson.

The use of cigarettes by students is mixed. Among eighth graders, only 1.8 percent have used cigarettes compared to the national average of 10.7 percent. Among tenth graders, the usage rate is 17.4 percent, similar to the national average of 17.1 percent. Among twelfth graders, the usage is 37.1 percent, which exceeds the national average of 26.7 percent.

The rate of alcohol use in eighth grade is lower than the national average, but by tenth grade usage is higher than average among Newtown students. Eighth graders reported that 9.6 percent had reported the use of alcohol compared to 19.6 percent of eighth graders nationally. Forty-four percent of tenth graders reported drinking in the past month, compared to 35.4 percent nationally. Newtown seniors reported that 68.6 percent had drunk alcohol in the past month compared to 48 percent nationally.

The results also show that students obtain most of their alcohol from home or from friends. The percentage of Newtown students that get alcohol from home with their parent’s permission was 31.9 percent. Newtown students that get alcohol from home without their parent’s permission was 52.8 percent. Newtown students that get alcohol from friends was 92 percent.

Almost half of ninth and tenth graders and more than three-fourths of eleventh and twelfth graders who used alcohol in the prior month reported averaging three or more drinks at a time, enough for most adolescents to become intoxicated.

“I think there are areas of concern, but there are also some positive points,” Ms Blanchard said. “The number of students that reported use in the last 30 days was telling.”

Illicit drug use including marijuana is lower in Newtown in seventh through tenth grade than the district’s economic regional group and schools surveyed statewide. The results for twelfth grade are unavailable at this time.

Use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana is higher among females across all grade levels.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among adolescents in Newtown as it is elsewhere in Connecticut. In Newtown three percent of seventh and eighth grade, 16.4 percent of ninth and tenth, and 38.7 percent eleventh and twelfth grader students admitted using marijuana in the previous month. More than 50 percent of eleventh and twelfth graders reported that occasional use of marijuana has very little or no harmful effect on people.

“I think we are doing something somewhat right up to the eighth grade,” Ms Blanchard said. “But we need to ask why are we dropping the ball between eighth and ninth grade? There are some really big jumps to independence here that we need to look at as a community.”

The district sees that family focused prevention programming deserves more attention. Seventh to tenth graders where families have clear rules are much less likely to use cigarettes (5.9 percent), alcohol (21.9 percent), and marijuana (6.7 percent) than where families do not set clear rules (cigarettes 18.6 percent, alcohol 43 percent, and marijuana 22.1 percent). Students are less likely to use marijuana if parents know their whereabouts when they are away from home (42.4 percent where parents do not know whereabouts versus 6.9 percent where parents know where they are). Thirty percent of students reported that there are alcohol-related problems in their family.

“We already know Connecticut in total is higher than the national average in general,” Ms Blanchard said. “In the northwest corner of Connecticut in particular.”

Ms Blanchard is glad to finally have some numbers in hand that the Newtown Prevention Council can begin to look at and review to figure out what the community as a whole needs to do to help with substance abuse problems.

“I didn’t find a lot of surprises. There were some trends,” Ms Blanchard said. “It gave us the hard data to support what we were troubled by. I hope the community will focus on the trends and not specific questions. If you look at the trends together it gives us some solid ground for what we need to work on.

“Our schools are battling this. I think our community now needs to step up to where the schools have been,” she added. “The level of improvements will come when the schools keep trying and the parents become involved, too.”

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff hopes that the results will bring the community together as well to address the issues the survey reveals.

“I’m grateful the board had the foresight to commission this so we have data we can use to develop programs to alleviate the problems,” Dr Pitkoff said. “The most promising thing here is there is a significant difference in the role of parents and the impact on students. It highlights the importance of parents being focused in on what their children are doing.”

“It’s very disheartening to see alcohol and drug use in middle and high schoolers,” he added. “The promising news is we can pinpoint one area. If parents get involved we can significantly reduce this problem.”

The Newtown Prevention Council planned to being reviewing the document Thursday afternoon. Some of the data will be used for projects the task force NO SUDS is compiling. NO SUDS (Newtown Organization to Stop Underage Drinking Soon) is evaluating the underage drinking issue in Newtown and hopes to create strategies and implement programs to combat underage drinking locally. NO SUDS was established through a $40,000 grant from the State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management to help increase awareness in the Newtown community on the physical dangers of underage drinking and the legal consequences.