DRUG SURVEY RESULTS ALARMING

A drug survey just released by two criminology students at Malaspina
University-College should be an eye-opener for anyone who works with
teenagers, and especially parents.

The survey anonymously polled 1,113 students in Grades 8 and 10 in
Nanaimo's seven high schools and four alternate secondary schools.

The most alarming fact to come out of the drug survey isn't about drug
use: it's the amount of drinking that Nanaimo's young teens are doing.

Of the Grade 8 students polled, 1.6 per cent admit to drinking daily.
That number rises to 2.6 per cent of Grade 10 students.

Two and a half per cent might not seem a large number, but that's 19
students in Grade 10 - we're talking 15-year-olds - who are on
their way to a life of problem drinking.

We talk about drugs and their effects, but alcohol is a most insidious
drug. We tend to accept alcohol because it's legal and it's easily
available, yet it's perhaps more addictive than most illicit drugs.

As a society, we cannot forget alcohol is a powerful and dangerous
drug, capable of destroying lives. The issue of kids drinking daily at
such a young age should be addressed now, not years down the road,
when booze has taken full hold of their faculties, rendering them
incapable of quitting.

The MalU students who compiled the survey are to be commended for the
thorough job.

The survey was well assembled, its faults truthfully listed and its
results a useful tool for school administrators, counsellors and
parents alike.

Sometimes parents are lulled into a sense of security about what their
children are up to, when it really should be a sense of insecurity.
This survey presents an opportunity for parents to learn from that
mistake.

This survey should cause our city's decision-makers to rethink their
priorities.