REPORT: 4 IN 5 HIGH SCHOOLERS SEE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AT SCHOOL

Millions of middle- and high-school students nationwide attend what
researchers characterized as "drug-infested" schools, according to a
study conducted at Columbia University.

A report, to be released Thursday by the university's National Center
on Addiction and Substance Abuse, found that 80 percent of
high-schoolers and 44 percent of middle-schoolers interviewed by
researchers say they have witnessed illegal drug use, dealing or
possession at school, or have seen classmates drunk or high on school
grounds. Based on these interviews, researchers characterized schools
as drug-infested or not.

Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and president of the center, said an
estimated 16 million students who attend schools the researchers
characterized as drug infested.

"Unless we get the drugs out of these schools," he said, "we're never
going to get the kind of test scores and academic achievement we need
to compete."

>From 2002 to 2007, the proportion of high-school students who attend
drug-infested schools climbed 39 percent, according to the survey. For
middle-school students, the rate jumped 63 percent during the same
five-year period.

Researchers conducted telephone interviews with 1,063 12- to
17-year-olds and 550 parents nationwide in April and May.

Eileen Wolfe, clinical director of the Long Island Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in Williston Park, characterized the
drug problem in Nassau and Suffolk counties as an after-school and
weekend issue, rather than an in-school epidemic.

"I'm not saying kids aren't doing it in school," she said. "But the
schools on Long Island are finding it and reporting it."

Califano said one of the most striking aspects of the study was the
impact drug-infested schools had on teens.

Students in schools where drugs are prevalent are four times more
likely to smoke cigarettes, five times more likely to use marijuana
and six times more likely to get drunk at least once a month than
those in schools less affected by drugs.

The survey also found that popularity at drug-infested schools tends
to hinge on drug use. Teens who attend these schools and consider
themselves popular are more likely to abuse prescription drugs.

"There's so much of a drug culture in and around these schools now,"
Califano said, "that it's cool to get drunk and cool to drug."

Fifty-nine percent of parents whose children attend drug-infested
schools said they believe ridding the school of illegal substances is
an unrealistic goal, according to the survey.

"Parents are sort of despairing and in denial," Califano said. "They
haven't really raised hell with the schools about this."

But Wolfe said schools should not catch all the blame for drug
problems.

"The teachers can only do so much," she said. "It's the parents'
responsibility."