2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

MORE TEENS ENGAGE IN RISKY BEHAVIOR

The latest survey of Hawaii high school students shows that more kids
are trying alcohol before age 13 and using over-the-counter drugs to
get high than two years ago, although meth use remains low.

In the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 29 percent of public high
school students in the state said they had drunk more than a few sips
of alcohol before age 13, up from 21 percent in 2007 and 27 percent in
2005. But experts say it is too early to conclude that there is a trend.

"It's interesting but we definitely have to have one more data point
before we can say there is really a trend going up," said Cathy
Tanaka, departmental school health coordinator at the state Health
Department. "We can't say if any of the little upticks we might be
seeing are things actually getting worse."

The random-sample, anonymous, written survey is conducted every two
years in public high schools in Hawaii. Private schools have declined
to participate. Altogether, 1,511 students in the state took part in
the survey, which is conducted every other year in cooperation with
the Centers for Disease Control.

Four percent of Hawaii teens surveyed in 2009 said they had ever tried
methamphetamines in their lifetimes, unchanged over the last four
years. Ecstasy and over-the-counter drugs, however, showed an
increase. Eight percent of those surveyed in 2009 said they had used
over-the-counter drugs to get high within the past month, up from 5
percent two years earlier. Ecstasy use rose as well, with 8 percent
saying they had used it at least once in their lifetimes, also up from
5 percent.

The results were recently released to the Board of Education and the
national data will be made public in June. Hawaii's teens have
typically had lower rates of alcohol and drug use than the national
average.

Still, a substantial number of students in Hawaii admitted to binge
drinking, with 22 percent saying they had consumed five or more drinks
in a row within the last month in the 2009 survey. That compares with
15 percent in 2007. The national rate was 26 percent in 2007.

The risks of binge drinking were highlighted last summer when
15-year-old Makamae Ah Mook Sang died of alcohol poisoning after
attending a party in Hawaii Kai. She was both a paddler and a hula
dancer, and her friends were shocked when they found out what had happened.

"At first I was in denial, I didn't want to believe she was gone,"
Shaynalyn Ganotisi, 15, a childhood friend, said last week. "She was
the last person I would have thought of it being her. She had so much
to look forward to in life.

"I didn't know what alcohol poisoning was and I didn't know the
effects it could have on your body," Ganotisi added. "You can make one
mistake and your life can be gone. So make the wiser choice. I don't
want anybody to have to go through the pain that Makamae's family and
friends and anyone who knew her went through."

Keith Yamamoto, chief of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the
Department of Health, said alcohol abuse has been showing up more
among youth entering substance abuse treatment statewide. In the 2009
fiscal year, 40 percent of adolescents coming into treatment
identified alcohol as their primary substance, he said. That figure
has grown gradually each year since 2006, when it was 34 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of adolescents entering treatment who identify
marijuana as their primary substance has fallen to 53 percent in 2009
from 59 percent in 2006.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2009 found that 22 percent of high
school students said they had used marijuana in the last 30 days,
compared to 16 percent and 17 percent in the previous two surveys.

"Any increase in alcohol and drug use is troubling," said Alan Shinn,
executive director of the Coalition for a Drug Free Hawaii. "It's a
concern for all of us prevention professionals. It means we have to
work harder."

A separate national study released this month showed upswings in the
use of alcohol, marijuana and ecstasy among high school students in
the United States, after a decade of decline. The Partnership for a
Drug-Free America's Attitude Tracking Study, sponsored by MetLife
Foundation, surveyed 3,287 teenagers in grades nine to 12 in schools
nationwide last year.

The number who said they had drunk alcohol in the past month reached
39 percent, up from 35 percent in 2008, while 38 percent said they had
used marijuana in the last month, compared to 32 percent in 2008.
Ecstasy use had grown to 10 percent in 2009, from 6 percent the
previous year.

Yamamoto said it is possible the economic recession might be having an
effect, pushing up stress levels at home, and he emphasized the need
to keep teenagers engaged in meaningful activities.

"There may be some economic impact," Yamamoto said. "While kids are
not always the ones directly impacted by losing their job or mortgage
issues, parental and family stresses I think have some impact on kids
and their ability to cope.

"The other thing I want to share is that when kids have more free
time, less structured time, they could be more at risk," he added. "If
you keep kids more engaged, we find kids are better able to prevent
some of that risk of alcohol and substance use early in their lives."