STUDENT DRUG USE, VIOLENCE RISING, SURVEY FINDS

Regular use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs by Washington
schoolchildren is on the rise, with regular use starting in sixth
grade and escalating to more than one in four 12th-graders reporting
they went to school drunk in the past year, according to an annual
survey.

One in three teens experienced problems of substance abuse,
depression, violent behavior and poor school performance, said the
seventh annual Kids Count Data book, which acts as a yearly yardstick
of children's economic, social and physical well-being throughout the
state.

Moreover, the majority of teens who smoke or carry a gun exhibited
behavioral problems when they were 11 or 12 years old and if they
didn't receive help, those problems multiplied by 10th grade, said the
report, which was released today.

The survey also found that many sixth-graders already engage in risky
behavior. Two out of five tried alcohol last year; one in eight
attacked another person; and one in seven had been suspended from school.

"In sixth grade, these behaviors should not be viewed as harmless,
youthful experimentation," says Dr. Frederick Connell, a professor at
the University of Washington's School of Public Health and co-author
of the survey.

By 10th grade, the survey found, the numbers had risen, with two in
five students drinking alcohol regularly, and one in four involved in
fights and being suspended from school.

Schools need to increase their early-prevention programs to match the
large scope of these problems, says Rick Brandon, a UW Graduate School
of Public Affairs professor who researched the data in the survey.
Brandon said the right steps include preventive programs like STARS
(Students Taking a Right Stand), in which they sign contracts pledging
a nonviolent lifestyle, and creating a positive code of conduct.

Several middle schools and one high school in the Seattle School
District have STARS programs.

At Madison Middle School, where the STARS program won a Governor's
Award for being the best drug-, alcohol- and violence-prevention
program in the state, one-third of the student body is involved in it.
Eighth-graders mentor sixth-graders, and both groups go out to
elementary schools to talk to 9- and 10-year-olds about drugs and
alcohol. The students in STARS hold alcohol- and drug-free events and
perform community services.

The 300 or so STARS students at Madison also put on Day of the Dead in
which they symbolically "die" every half-hour to spotlight the rate at
which U.S. teenagers die because of drugs, alcohol or violence. The
continuous activity means kids are actually involved in preventing
substance abuse rather than listening to an adult tell them to "just
say no," says Madison's STARS coordinator, Jacob Ellis.

Other findings from the Kids Count Data Book:

- -- The number of children in foster homes and other out-of-home
placements is outgrowing the system's capacity to handle this need.

- -- The number of adults a child can talk to diminished from sixth to
12th grade.

- -- The number of divorces in families involving children and the
percentage of out-of-wedlock births continued to rise.

- -- One in three children continued to live in a family without
adequate income to afford the basic necessities.

- -- More than one in three adolescents showed signs of clinical
depression.

- -- Last year, one in 25 children lived in a family that had been
investigated for child abuse or neglect.