(Ed. note: Of course, the state narcs are
campaigning against medical marijuana. It is interesting and encouraging that these
surveys and articles actually focus on alcohol. Now if the state would just but its money
there instead of opposing medical marijuana...)
See
The Mfiles – More Paranoid Than The
Xfiles But Less Believable;
Federal Funds Used For Prohibitionist Propaganda Against Washington State Medical
Marijuana Intiative
Lies and Libels and NonsenseOctober 8, 1998
From the Seattle Times
opinion@seatimes.com
http://www.seattletimes.com/
By Tamra Fitzpatrick
STUDENTS’ SUBSTANCE USE INCREASES
By the time Washington students graduate from high school, more
than 80 percent have experimented with alcohol, more than 60 percent have smoked
cigarettes and more than half have used drugs.
And the use of all three among adolescents is up from 1995, according to the latest
Washington State Survey of Adolescent Health Behavior, which was released yesterday.
Among the more than 39 percent of sixth-graders who said they have experimented with
alcohol - up from 33 percent in 1990 - half of the students said they got their alcohol at
home and with their parents’ knowledge.
The survey assessed 14,601 sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade
students in 102 public schools in the state on behavioral and health issues, including
substance abuse and weapon possession. This is the fifth time the survey has been done; it
was started in 1988.
The survey was conducted by three state agencies: the Office of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the Department
of Community, Trade and Economic Development.
Their hope is that schools and communities will use the survey, evaluating their
intervention programs to see if they meet the needs of local adolescents and to help in
developing more programs where they’re needed.
"Our belief is if you can prevent today’s teens from ever getting involved in
substance abuse, the next generation will not be showing up with fetal-alcohol syndrome,
cocaine addiction, Child Protective Services caseloads, domestic abuse. Hopefully it will
help to stop the cycle," said Kathy Spears, DSHS spokeswoman.
Part of the survey asks students what they need to stay away from the undesirable
behaviors. Spears said responses include the need to feel committed to their community and
school, to stay away from friends who drink and to feel rewarded for positive behaviors.
Spears said the results of the survey were up and down - "Some things got better,
some got worse."
Among the results:
October 8, 1998
The Everett Herald
letters@heraldnet.com
http://www.heraldnet.com/
By Sharon Salyer, with contributions from Eric Stevick
HEAVY DRINKING REPORTED AMONG 10TH- , 12-GRADERS
Students’ Responses To Survey Questions Also Show Rise In Cigarettes, Marijuana
About a third of Snohomish County high school seniors and about a quarter of area
sophomores say they have participated in binge drinking, consuming five or more drinks in
one sitting, a survey released Wednesday shows.
This means the number of local 10th- and 12th-graders reporting
heavy drinking has increased about 4 percentage points since 1995.
Questions on alcohol consumption were part of a survey of 9,100 Snohomish County
students in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades that also
examined cigarette smoking, violence and marijuana use.
The survey, which questioned 37,000 students statewide, gives an intimate look at
prevalence of risky behaviors among youths in Washington.
The questionnaire was a project of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction,
the Department of Social and Health Services, and the Department of Community, Trade and
Economic Development. It was conducted the last week in March and the first week of April.
In Snohomish County, students in the Edmonds, Everett, Granite Falls, Lakewood, Monroe,
Mukilteo and Snohomish school districts participated, said Jack Wilson, a substance abuse
prevention specialist for the Snohomish County’s Department of Human Services.
Although the amount of binge drinking is up, Wilson said he was surprised even more by
the patterns of drinking among sixth-grade students.
Locally, 6.4 percent of sixth-graders reported binge drinking; statewide, it was 7.6
percent.
Some 13.8 percent of Washington sixth-graders reported they had drunk some alcohol in
the 30 days before the survey.
Half of these drinking sixth-graders said they get their alcohol at home and their
parents know about it.
"That probably hits me the hardest," Wilson said. "To me, it’s a
travesty," he said of parents’ reported knowledge of their children’s
drinking habits.
Marijuana use by area sophomores and seniors is also up slightly, with nearly 28
percent of local 10th-graders saying they had used the drug in the 30 days
before the survey and nearly 30 percent of seniors saying they tried it, up 4 percentage
points over 1995 levels.
High school cigarette smoking rates also have increased since 1995 with one-quarter of
area sophomores and a third of seniors saying they had smoked at least one cigarette in
the past 30 days.
Violence continues to be a problem both here and across the state with 13 to 17 percent
of Washington students reporting they had attacked someone with the idea of seriously
hurting them.
Locally, about 11 percent of sixth-graders said they had engaged in this kind of
violence, down from 15.8 percent in 1995. In eighth grade, the percentage dropped from
20.2 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 1998. In the higher grades, the numbers changed
little, with 16.3 percent of 10th-graders and 13.3 percent of 12th-graders
reporting violent behavior in 1998.
Peter Finch, principal at Granite Falls High School, speculates that a student peer
mediator program at many schools across the county and state has cut down or leveled the
incidents of students fighting.
The program, in which students help resolve conflicts, has had the largest impact in
lower grades, according to the study.
Lynn Evans, an assistant superintendent for schools in the south end of the Everett
School District, said she also has witnessed more community-wide emphasis on the
importance of keeping schools safe.
"I think there is certainly an increased awareness, not just among the students
themselves but among the parents in the community and the community itself regarding the
fact that we want our children to be raised safely and to remember their childhood as
being safe," Evans said.
The number of students carrying a weapon to area schools either remained steady or was
slightly reduced from 1995.
Nearly 9 percent of local sixth-graders, 14 percent of eighth-graders, nearly 13
percent or 10-graders and about 10 percent of 12th-graders reported they had
carried a gun, knife, razor, club, stick, pipe or other weapon to school.
Supported