ALCOHOL, DRUG USE TREATED WITH URGENCY

MEREDITH - A graduation night drinking party and an alarming survey of
local high school students on alcohol and drug use have mobilized the
Inter-Lakes School District administration.

Scott Andersen, Inter-Lakes superintendent, plans to sit down next week
with a representative from New Futures, a nonprofit program that helps
communities develop ways to reduce drug and alcohol use among teenagers.

Andersen has been meeting for several weeks with community leaders in
Center Harbor, Meredith and Sandwich, the three towns in the district, to
heighten awareness of the problem. Last night, Andersen met with Meredith
selectmen to present the results of the "2001 New Hampshire Youth Risk
Behavior Survey."

Nearly everywhere Andersen goes, people are surprised to hear what he has
to say. "They have been stunned by the numbers and very anxious to get
moving aggressively," he said.

Bob Flanders, a Meredith selectman, is one of them. "When I first saw this
report, I was shocked."

According to the survey taken in January, 98 percent of Inter-Lakes High
School seniors reported using alcohol, tobacco or marijuana at least once,
90 percent in the month preceding the survey.

Of all high school students, 64 percent reported drinking alcohol in the
month preceding the survey, compared with the state average of 55 percent
and the national average of 51 percent. Of those students, 41 percent
reported binge drinking in the month preceding the survey, compared with
the state average of 36 percent and the national average of 33 percent.

Of all the students, 52 percent reported using marijuana, 16 percent
reported using cocaine, 22 percent reported using inhalants, and 21 percent
reported using amphetamines.

Two-hundred-eighty-five students, or 71 percent of the student body,
responded to the survey. The study, conducted by the state Board of
Education, takes samples from New Hampshire high schools to get state
averages. But Andersen requested a complete study of Inter-Lakes High School.

He got the results the day after he found out about a graduation night
drinking party involving scores of kids.

Officers sent 80 to 100 underage drinkers home from the party in Center
Harbor. They didn't arrest the teens because they were short-staffed during
Motorcycle Week. The school board is considering moving the graduation date
so that it doesn't fall during Bike Week.

Andersen said he has received more phone calls and e-mails from parents in
the last month than on any other matter ever before.

"I would like to see everybody come together on this," said Lisa Clark, the
mother of a ninth- and 10th-grader. "I think parents should have to be
responsible for this. I think the school should have to be responsible for
this. We are a community, and unless we start acting like a community, we
are going to have problems."

Clark said she wasn't surprised about the findings of the survey, based on
conversations she has had with her own children.

She said she's thought about taking her daughters to the emergency room to
show them what happens to people who drink and drive.

"When they're out of my sight, I can only pray they remember I'm standing
on their shoulder."

Selectmen discussed several possible remedies at the meeting last night,
including increasing the role of the DARE program, enhancing the curriculum
and instituting "zero tolerance" enforcement.

"We are in the infancy stage of dealing with this," Andersen said. "I can
tell you if we just add curriculum in school, the problem is not going to
go away. It's going to have to be the schools, mom and dad, selectmen.

"We have the ball rolling. But we're not fully organized yet."

Andersen contacted New Futures yesterday. The organization has helped
Concord, Laconia, Gilford, Belmont and other communities figure out ways to
combat underage alcohol and drug abuse.

The program educates community leaders through training classes that may
include 20 to 30 people.

"If we're going to reduce use, we have to work with the business community
to reduce the availability of alcohol," said John Bunker, president of New
Futures. "We've got to work with parents on the rules and guidelines they
give their kids. We've got to work with schools and police. We don't
believe there is a simple solution."