DRUG-USE REPORT SURVEYS TEENS

STUDY: Wednesday's Results Indicate Student Alcohol And
Illegal-Substance Abuse Remains A Problem.

SACRAMENTO - A statewide survey released Wednesday showed
prescription-drug abuse is prevalent among teens, while the abuse of
alcohol and marijuana has leveled off.

The survey conducted between September 2005 and February polled
10,638 teens at 113 middle and high schools. It indicated that
prescription painkillers were abused by 15 percent of 11th-graders
surveyed, 9 percent of the ninth-graders and 4 percent of the seventh-graders.

While the survey did not reflect results from specific regions,
Riverside County officials said they are awaiting the results of
their own California Health Kids Survey.

Those results are expected to mirror many of those on the statewide
survey, said Sherry Colgan Stone, the safe schools coordinator for
the Riverside County Office of Education.

Wednesday's results showed alcohol and illegal-drug abuse remained a
problem, though consumption overall has dipped from past years.
Alcohol remains the leading substance abused by teens. Sixty percent
of 11th-graders, 47 percent of ninth-graders and 27 percent of
seventh-graders said they had consumed alcohol in the last six months.

"We're concerned about the high rate of underage users, and we do
need some intervention," said Meredith Rolft, education
administrator for the state Department of Education's Safe and
Healthy Kids Office.

In 1992, the fourth year the survey was conducted, 76.5 percent of
11th-graders reported they drank alcohol, 67 percent of
ninth-graders said they did, as did 53 percent of seventh-graders.

Alcohol and drug use saw a small drop or stayed about the same for
high school grades from last year, but the use of beer and marijuana
among seventh-graders rose slightly, said Robin Schwanke, staff
services analyst for the state attorney general's office.

Excessive alcohol consumption is another alarming trend being
targeted, Colgan Stone said. Though binge drinking dropped 3
percentage points among 11th-graders, it held steady at 14 percent
for ninth-grade students surveyed.

California last year received $52 million in federal aid for
alcohol- and drug-abuse prevention funding, which was later
distributed to education offices and school districts.

To combat teen substance abuse, education officials are promoting
student-assistance programs statewide and across the Inland Empire.
Several San Bernardino city and Riverside county schools have
youth-mentoring programs and intervention referral treatment for
students who may be battling substance abuse. Riverside County
educators are promoting self-awareness and motivational tools to
deter dangerous behavior.

"It may sound warm and fuzzy, but it really is the prescription to
combat peer pressure and make the right decisions," Colgan Stone said.

Aleksandra Drecun, a psychology professor at Mount San Antonio
College in Walnut and alcohol and drug specialist with UC Riverside,
said not enough is being done as a society to combat alcohol and
substance abuse and said the latest results are alarming.

"As a society we are not adequately reaching, educating or serving
our children and their families, particularly those that are at high
risk for substance use and abuse," Drecun said. "We need to target
families and utilize them as a support system alongside our
children, if we want to be successful."

In Sacramento, officials called for school districts to create more
student assistance programs to help children and teens with
substance-abuse problems.

"Our schools need to be prepared so that when our kids ask for help
or when we can identify these early warning signals, we can provide
the necessary assistance to our students," said Jack O'Connell, the
state superintendent of public instruction.

"It's telling us for the first time that we're seeing painkillers,
prescription-drug use, in a higher level than what we have seen in
the past. We've seen this nationally, but it's the first time in
California," O'Connell said.