FEWER TEENS USE DRUGS CASUALLY

But Study Says Heavy Use Is Up Among PSD Youths

Fewer Poudre School District students are using alcohol and marijuana, but
60 percent of high school seniors surveyed were drinking in the previous
month.

In the 2002 Colorado Youth Survey, or CYS, 24 percent of PSD eighth-graders
reported drinking alcohol within the last month. That number rose to 50
percent for 10th-graders. In 12th grade, it went up to 60 percent.

The survey included 2,922 PSD students answering 120 questions on everything
from drug use to depression to school violence.

Seventy-two percent of PSD students polled said they had never smoked pot,
up from 67 percent in 2001. But while casual marijuana use is down, heavy
use among high school students is up.

Twelve percent of 12th-graders reported smoking pot 20 times or more in the
previous 30 days, up 3 percentage points from 2001. And 31 percent of high
school seniors said they had used marijuana at least once in the previous
month.

The numbers are scary for parents.

"Even though I trust my children and we talk a lot about this stuff, I worry
about it," mom Cindy Preston said.

As a nurse, Preston said she has seen the aftermath of drugs and alcohol.
It's one of the reasons she began talking to her two children -- Alicia, 13,
and Bret, 16 -- about it when they were in the third grade.

"Even though parents are busy, you still have to take time to talk to your
kids," she said.

The survey polled students from sixth, eighth, and 10th through 12th grades
in 14 of PSD's 43 schools -- Bauder, Bennett, Cache La Poudre, Eyestone and
Shepardson elementary schools, Rocky Mountain High School, and all eight
junior highs.

Use of other drugs including cocaine, psychedelics and ecstasy remained
level or declined with only 1 percent or 2 percent of students reporting
use.

While the numbers aren't where they want them to be, PSD officials said more
students are making better choices when it comes to substance abuse. The
district's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program has prevention programs at
every school.

At the high school level, where most drug and alcohol use occurs, a new
program titled Reality Check was implemented last year, said Jim Campain,
coordinator of the PSD Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program.

The program teaches students refusal skills in addition to using the Social
Norms approach, which shows students that while they perceive that
"everyone" drinks or smokes, the majority of their peers actually are clean
and sober.

One program that has been especially effective is Project Hope, said Rocky
Mountain High School Principal Paul Radcliff.

The program brings a social worker to the school for two hours every week to
work with students on issues including substance-abuse problems, Radcliff
said. The program has been so successful that officials are hoping to expand
it in the future.

Radcliff said he's worried people get the wrong impression of PSD students
when they see data such as that in the CYS.

"I know these kids," he said. "Some make poor choices, but many, many more
make good choices, and that is often overlooked. ... We need to address
these issues, but not obsess on them."