HOOVER STUDENT DRUG USE FALLS

Some Say Programs Pay Off As Fewer Choose To Imbibe

Drug use among students in Hoover city schools has dropped significantly
over the past 12 years, according to a survey released Thursday.

Fewer students in the seventh, ninth and 11th grades reported drinking beer
and smoking cigarettes and marijuana than students in those grades did in
1989, according to the survey of Hoover students conducted in the spring.

The 2001 survey was given to about 1,700 randomly selected students in the
sixth through 12th grades, but comparison questions from 1989 were only
available for the seventh, ninth and 11th grades.

According to this year's survey, the use of liquor has decreased in the
seventh and ninth grades.

The number of 11th-graders who said they had drunk liquor in the three
months preceding the survey increased, however, from about 40 percent in
1989 to 42.9 percent in 2001.

The strongest improvement was at the ninth-grade level, where 75.4 percent
of students said they had not drunk beer in the past three months, compared
to 53 percent in 1989.

The number of ninth-graders who said they had not smoked cigarettes in the
past three months increased from 61 percent to 80.7 percent, and the number
of ninth-graders who said they had not drunk liquor over that time rose
from 58 percent to 75.4 percent.

Few students reported using "hard" drugs. For example, 99.5 percent of
seventh-graders, 96.9 percent of ninth-graders and 95.1 percent of
11th-graders said they had not used cocaine in the past three months.
Comparison data from 1989 was not available for that question.

The 2001 survey numbers are slightly skewed because they don't include
students attending Hoover's Crossroads alternative school, where students
reported more drug use. However, the percentages couldn't be more than 5
percent off because of the small student population at Crossroads, said
Hayden Center, a substance abuse prevention expert hired to conduct the study.

Center said there's no scientific way to explain the significant
improvements since 1989, but it appears the multiple education and
prevention programs implemented by the schools and community are having an
effect.

Former Hoover Mayor Frank Skinner in 1989 appointed a drug prevention task
force that was headed by the current mayor, Barbara McCollum, when she was
a councilwoman.

The same year, the Hoover school system hired Anne Hartline as its safe and
drug-free schools coordinator, and in 1991 the Safe and Drug-Free Schools
and Community Advisory Team was formed.

Over the years, the two groups, which eventually merged, started many
anti-drug initiatives, including parenting seminars, community rallies,
drug-free activities for teens and a Peer Helper program in which students
encourage other students not to use drugs.

The Hoover Police Department started a Drug Awareness and Resistance
Education program in 1990 as well. Children participating in city sports
leagues sign commitments to remain free of drugs and alcohol.

In 1997, the Hoover City Council banned cigarette vending machines from the
city. The school board, in 2000, adopted a drug-testing policy for
athletes, becoming the first school system in the state to test students
for tobacco use.

Janet Windle, executive director of the American Lung Association of
Alabama, said the Hoover community has gone a long way toward changing
behavior norms for teens, especially when it comes to drugs.

"It's just not the cool thing to do," Ms. Windle said. "That sounds sort of
trite sometimes, but when they hear it as much as they do here, that
affects their behavior and their perception."

The study also revealed that 15.6 percent of the students indicated they
had seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months. Nationally, the
number is 20 percent. About 2.8 percent of the Hoover students said they
actually attempted suicide in the previous 12 months, compared to 8 percent
of students nationally.

No student in the Hoover school system has committed suicide since 1990,
school officials said.