SURVEY: AREA TEENS HAVE DRUG, ALCOHOL PROBLEMS

Easy access to alcohol and tobacco help fuel a significant substance abuse
problem among area teens, Medford adults believe, and it's up to schools,
law enforcement and prevention agencies to fix it.

That's according to a first-ever survey of adult attitudes toward drinking
and drug use among young people released Monday by Southern Oregon Drug
Awareness.

The anti-drug agency sent surveys to 600 Medford adults last spring,
spending about $4,000 for research conducted by the Minnesota Institute of
Public Health.

About one-third, or 155, of the surveys were returned, according to agency
director Stephanie Soares-Pump. Most indicated a strong belief that young
people should not use alcohol, marijuana, tobacco or other substances and
an equally strong belief that too much use occurs already.

"It turns out adults aren't complacent at all," said Soares-Pump. "They
just need help in knowing what to do."

Nearly 90 percent of respondents indicated that alcohol and tobacco use is
a moderate or serious problem among local teens. Nearly 80 percent said
teen use of marijuana or other drugs is a problem.

Nearly three-quarters of the respondents also said alcohol, tobacco and
drug use by adults is a moderate or serious problem.

The survey confirmed what social service advocates hoped was true, that
adults are deeply concerned about the problem, said Sarah Heath of the
Jackson County Commission on Children and Families.

"We can believe it," she said. "Before, you might have community forums and
nobody shows up, and you wonder if the community cares."

Less than 5 percent of survey respondents agreed that it was OK for teens
to drink at parties if they don't get drunk, to drink as long as they don't
drive or to smoke cigarettes. Less than 15 percent agreed that it was OK
for 18- to 21-year-olds to drink.

Nearly 100 percent of those surveyed said adults should never offer alcohol
to teens other than their own children in their homes, and nearly 70
percent said it was never OK for parents to offer their own children
alcohol at home. Nearly 30 percent agreed it would be OK on special occasions.

At the same time, adults believe that current social conditions allow
problems to flourish.

Sneaking alcohol from home is not difficult for teens, more than half of
respondents agreed. Neither is it difficult for teens to buy alcohol at a
store, to order a drink at a bar, to get an older person to buy it or to
get their parents to give it to them, more than a third of survey
respondents said.

The solution lies in better education, more law enforcement attention and
increased emphasis on prevention programs, nearly 80 percent of those
surveyed agreed.

It that means increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco to pay for prevention,
that's OK, more than half of respondents agreed. Nearly a quarter said
they'd volunteer time to help.

There was no survey question about parental involvement, but in attached
comments, many indicated that parents are key to kids' decisions.

"I feel that parents are not being responsible enough," one survey
respondent wrote. "They are not making the effort to make the kids more
responsible for their actions. All of society has a role in prevention, but
the base has to be the home."