THE REAL WAR ON DRUGS: SURVEY FINDS PAST CAMPAIGNS WERE FLAWED

A survey is only as good as the questions it asks.

The California Attorney General's office recently released a student
drug usage survey which illustrates that point.

Past state and national surveys have missed the mark for measuring
substance use among secondary school students, according to the 12th
biennial California Student Survey (CSS).

Professor Rodney Skager, who started this statewide survey in 1985,
added a couple of key questions to the latest survey - conducted in
2007 and 2008 - that make a huge difference in getting an accurate
picture of what really happens with students in public secondary schools.

The report was amended to include first time alcohol use, illicit
drugs, diverted prescription drugs and cold/cough medications (used
to get high) in the total percentage of respondents who tried at
least one of these in their lifetime.

This sensible inclusion of things that tempt students goes beyond
flawed programs like the Bush administration's National Youth
Anti-Drug Media Campaign and the Random Student Drug Testing Grants Program.

The research in the CSS report directly challenges the efficiency of
those programs, and even suggests they were counterproductive in
promoting healthy student behavior.

The survey stated that as a result of the added questions, 60 percent
more 9th grade students reported they used at least one drug in their
lifetime. The number of students in 11th grade who reported use of
illegal drugs rose to a whopping 74 percent.

Skager, professor emeritus in the UCLA Graduate School of Education
and Information Studies, is the author of Beyond Zero Tolerance: A
Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education and School Discipline (
www.safety1st.org) published by the Drug Policy Alliance.

What's important about this report is the inclusion of drugs that
have long been available. It makes past state and national surveys
worthless. The only way to address a situation as large as student
drug use is to recognize that the "war on drugs" campaigns were
unenlightened attempts at best.

"To prevent adolescents who do experiment from falling into abusive
patterns, we need to create fallback strategies that focus on
safety," Skager noted in a report about the CSS survey.

The ramifications of the survey are not just statewide. The report
says the National Monitoring the Future Survey is flawed in its
approach to solving problems. One result should be no surprise to
anyone; the social climate among youth tolerates widespread drug
experimentation and use, though not necessarily use that causes problems.

Most parents already know that. When bottles of cough syrup
disappear, and Mom's bottle of Valium is missing or empty before the
expiration date, they know the culprit is one of their own children.

The Bush sponsored drug prevention programs relied on a fear-based
approach that denied the reality of prescription drugs and other drug
use among our nation's youth. Like it or not, drug use is rampant
among the nation's secondary students.

The Abstinence-only Drug Education program just doesn't cut it. How
could it? If you take a good long look at our culture today, you know
the temptations to experiment with drugs are manifold. Just look at
the entertainment industry and its popularity with secondary
students. Drugs are glorified.

I'm gratified to see that alcohol is finally out of the closet as the
big problem, rather than the "killer weed" conservatives have been
baying about like hounds for the last eight years. Reality trumps
myths. Even the use of prescription drugs was much higher than
smoking marijuana, according to the CSS survey

Today's student is too world-wise to go along with simplistic
abstinence programs. Worse yet, when false information goes out,
students know it, mock it, and go the opposite way to show their
scorn, according to the survey's summary.

For the entire 2007-2008 California Student Survey, go to the web at
http://www.safestate.org/index.cfm?navID=254.

The time has come to promote honest, open and respectful discussion
with teens. This survey takes a big step toward opening the door for
real solutions to illegal drug use among our nation's youth.

As It Stands, now it's up to the new Obama administration to use this
vital information and fight the real war on drugs!