SURVEY REVEALS SPIKE IN DRUG USE

Results Show Earlier Intervention Needed With Kids

One in 20 fourth-graders has sniffed glue.

A third to half of ninth-graders drink and smoke pot.

The information from the latest Indian River County student survey should
be enough to scare a parent.

"It's scary. We need to reach kids at first-grade, maybe kindergarten,"
said Nadia Schulke of Sebastian, parent of a first-grader at Liberty Magnet
Elementary School and a preschooler.

The results of the survey -- taken by 1,614 students from fourth- through
12th-grades -- were outlined Tuesday at a Substance Abuse Council-sponsored
program. Officials attending the program said the results show earlier
intervention is needed.

Robert Peterson, international director of PRIDE Youth Programs
International Division, gave an overview of the county's youth survey
results. Among the results, more than twice as many fourth-graders as
fifth-graders responded they were using inhalants like glue.

Schulke said it's too late to teach students in fifth-grade the dangers of
drugs. Children are exposed to drugs at a much earlier age, she said, so
she's talked to her children at any opportunity about how smoking makes
teeth yellow and gives them bad breath.

The survey also showed less use among 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students
than in recent years. Andrew Shepherd, a sophomore in the international
baccalaureate program at Sebastian River High School, was surprised a small
percentage of his peers said they've used cocaine.

"I didn't know anyone used it," he said.

He said he also was surprised more than half drink beer, but not surprised
that a quarter smoke cigarettes. Personally, he said, he's too busy to be
tempted.

On the plus side, the survey, conducted in Indian River County since 1990,
showed a reduction in drug use among 10th-to 12th-graders compared with
recent years.

Colette Heid, executive director of the council, said that's likely due to
the middle school life skills program those students finished. And she said
fifth-graders go through the Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education program,
where they learn about the dangers of abuse, which could explain their
abstinence.

Heid said the spike in drug abuse among last year's 9th-grade class began
in 1999 when those students were in fifth grade. "It continued again in 7th
grade and now in 9th grade," Heid said. She and others at the conference
couldn't explain the hike.

A 1998 federal law established the PRIDE survey as a measure of the
effectiveness of White House drug control policy. The 2003 study of 450,000
students nationally found that illegal drug use and cigarette smoking among
6th to 12th graders increased slightly, while alcohol use remained about
the same, with half the students saying they used alcohol in the past year.

Sgt. Brad Fojtik of the Indian River County Sheriff's Office said the data
helps his department and school resource officers target the age groups
experiencing spikes. "We've followed the survey from its inception," he said.

Melinda Gielow, director of health and student services for the Indian
River County School District, said the district might need to look into
telling students about the dangers of illegal drugs in younger grades.

Veronica Steward, who is renewing her license as a social worker here after
moving from New York City, said it was interesting to note that even in
rural Indian River, drugs are used by children and teens.

"I was a little naive," she said.

"I hate to think that sixth graders are doing those things," said Deborah
Bova, who has a sixth grade son at Sebastian River Middle School.She said
parental supervision is vital. "If a child is left their own device,
especially with older siblings, it's bad."