RISKY BUSINESS OF YOUTH

PORTSMOUTH - "Clearly, just telling kids about the consequences of
their behavior is not working," said Portsmouth High School Principal
Rick Gremlitz in response to a recent report on risky behavior among
local students.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, furnished by the Psychiatric Research
Center at Dartmouth Medical School, shows the vast majority of
Portsmouth youth have used drugs, alcohol and tobacco by the time
they hit high school. The survey was conducted in February.

Gremlitz said the results were reliable, since nearly every PHS
student was surveyed. The survey showed 83 percent of local teens had
used tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or other drugs at some point in
their lives.

Sixty-two percent of boys and 49 percent of girls said they had
marijuana at some point in their lives; 32 percent of teens said they
used cocaine, heroine, inhalants, amphetamines or steroids at some
point.

Forty-one percent of teens said they had engaged in sexual
intercourse, most by age 15. More than half of those teens said they
had two or more partners, while 12 percent of them reported they had
at least six partners.

Gremlitz said despite teachers' efforts to demonstrate the risks of
such behavior, students remain unconvinced. "We need to somehow
impress them in a much more forceful way," he said. "There's a gamut
of consequences that can result from these risky behaviors."

Gremlitz listed automobile accidents, teen-age pregnancies and
sexually transmitted diseases as likely results of engaging in these
risky behaviors.

The principal said the community needs a comprehensive plan for
responding to the report.

"Our community has a problem that has to be addressed," said
Gremlitz. "It's not a school problem. It's something that the
community really has to take a look at. What we're really concerned
about is the behavior that kids are involved with when they're not at
school."

Superintendent Lyonel Tracy said Portsmouth schools will be taking
steps to address the matter, such as offering more drug and alcohol
awareness workshops and discussions.

However, Tracy said, it's going to take input from outside the school
system as well.

"We need the commitment from the entire community to be successful," he said.

Gremlitz said school officials were not surprised by the results. "We
had subjective evidence that there was a lot of partying going on on
the weekends."

Tracy said given the anecdotal evidence, the numbers are not
surprising, but they are disturbing.