AREA STUDENTS: DRUGS IN SCHOOLS ARE A FACT OF LIFE

Leah Boutotte, 17, who attends Nashoba Regional High School, said she knows
kids bring drugs into her school.

"I know for a fact they do," the Lancaster resident said. "I've seen people
with drugs."

Boutotte said she's seen people with "everything," but most often
marijuana. Boutotte's observations reflect the views of students around the
nation, according to a new study.

The study, released August 18 by The National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, found that 28 percent of
middle schoolers said drugs are used, kept or sold in their schools, a 47
percent increase since 2002.

Sixty-two percent of high school students said that drugs are used, kept or
sold in their school, a 41 percent jump from CASA's 2002 survey. The study,
which has been conducted for the last 10 years, also showed that teens who
say there are drugs in their school are three times more likely to
try marijuana, and twice as likely to drink alcohol than students who say
their schools are drug-free.

"Availability is the mother of use," Joseph Califano Jr., CASA's chairman
and president, told the Associated Press. "We really are putting an
enormous number of 12- to 17-year-olds at risk."

Alissa Laingren, 16, who attends Gardner High and was shopping at the Mall
at Whitney Field Tuesday, said there are drugs at her school as well. "They
just bring their pot to school and leave and don't come back," Laingren
said. Both girls said drugs are bought and sold at their schools. "I'm sure
they buy them at mine," Laingren said.

Andre Ravenelle, superintendent of Fitchburg schools, said he has not yet
specifically addressed what, if any, drug use may be occurring in the
city's schools. "(The) substance issue is a community issue, not just a
school issue," he said. But Ravenelle did point to Fitchburg's new "Weed
and Seed" grant, which focuses both on weeding out bad elements in the
city, as well as enlisting residents' help in fighting crime and blight.

"I know that that's a really successful initiative, and that's something
the schools will be participating in," Ravenelle said.

Joshua Sanderski, who is an at-large member of the Leominster School
Committee, agreed that drug use is a community issue, and that parents need
to do their part.

"It is a big concern, and parents need to stop ignoring it," Sanderski
said. "They need to realize that no matter how good their child is
academically or socially, there is always the potential for them to become
a drug user or an alcohol user."

Sanderski echoed the CASA study's findings that drug use is trickling down
to lower grades.

"I feel the drug epidemic is going from the high school level down to the
middle school level," he said. "We need to start implementing education
programs. We need to start something now in the early years." Peter Garbus,
executive director of the North Central Charter Essential School, said
because his school is small, students are likely to tell faculty when they
know of drug use in the school.

"We're not naive, and we understand that adolescents use and possess
drugs," Garbus said. "At our school we try to find out that information,
and intervene immediately whenever we hear about it."

The CASA survey, which was conducted by phone and involved 1,000 randomly
selected young people between the ages of 12 and 17, also focused on the
reasons teens choose to -- or choose not to -- do drugs.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said the illegality of marijuana doesn't
affect their decision to use the drug.

Laura Balducci, 17, of Lancaster, who attends Nashoba Regional High School,
said the biggest deterrent is getting caught drinking or doing drugs.
Balducci said the school sometimes gets wind of parties before they happen,
and the police break them up.

"A lot of kids don't go," she said, because they don't want to get in
trouble. "I think it's the legal issue," Balducci said. "I don't think it's
the health risks. If you ask them, they're like, 'I don't care.'" Jen
Morse, 18, who just graduated from Littleton High School, said that sports
is another factor.

"Kids who are really into (sports) won't do (drugs)," Morse said. But she
also said that if upperclassmen on sports teams are doing drugs, their
younger teammates are likely to follow suit.

Lauren Silverman, 16, of Fitzwilliam, N.H., who attends Monadnock Regional
High School, estimated that about 40 percent of kids who attend her school
do drugs. "I think they just do it for fun," she said.

Silverman said she has her own reasons for staying drug-free. "I wouldn't
do it because it would mess up my life," she said. "The outcome after it,
what it does to your body."

The study also showed that parents have a major impact on whether their
kids choose to do drugs.

Kristen Vance, 16, of Gardner, who attends North Central Charter Essential
School, said her parents provide reason enough not to do drugs. "If my
parents found out, they would kill me," Vance said. "I'd be beheaded."