Drug, alcohol use dips

LOWVILLE — A recent survey of Lewis County middle and high school students indicates that fewer of them are regularly using drugs and alcohol.

"We've seen progress in some areas," said Arlene S. Hall, executive director at Mountain View Prevention Services, which sponsored the survey.

However, Mrs. Hall said her agency still has plenty of work to do, since many of the local use rates from the survey — conducted by Bach Harrison of Salt Lake City, Utah — still exceed national averages.

Of 1,969 students in grades six through 12 surveyed this spring, 32.5 percent indicated they had consumed alcoholic beverages within the past 30 days. That's down from 38.9 percent in a similar study conducted in 2006.

High school seniors showed a particularly large drop, from 70.5 percent in 2006 to 53.4 percent this year. However, that's still well above the national average for seniors — established in a 2007 "Monitoring the Future" study — of 44.4 percent.

According to results from the new Lewis County survey, 13.4 percent of students said they had smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, down from 17.2 percent in 2006. Reported use of chewing tobacco also dropped, from 11.5 percent to 9.5 percent, while reported use of other illicit drugs dropped from 15.6 percent to 12.1 percent.

This year's study included more students than the one in 2006, which surveyed only 1,515. Most of the increase — from 430 to 877 — consisted of students in grades six through eight.

Mrs. Hall said the 2006 survey apparently didn't include middle school students from all five county school districts, while the 2009 survey did. Mountain View officials made it a priority this year to seek information from the full gamut of middle-schoolers, she said.

The new survey indicated the average age of onset for use of alcohol was 12.7 years, cigarettes was 12.4 years and marijuana was 14 years.

Several survey questions were designed to determine risk factors that would make students more susceptible to poor behavior and protective factors that would make them less susceptible.

"It really helps you prioritize what the needs of the community are and identifies specific problems that should be addressed," Mrs. Hall said.

Copies of the full survey report are available for review at the Mountain View Prevention Services office on Number Three Road just north of the village.