SURVEY'S OUTCOME TROUBLING

ANGLETON -- Troubling statistics based on a survey of Angleton ISD
students have left educators calling for the community to pull
together against drug and alcohol use.

About 68 percent of students have never used drugs when they enter
high school, but by the time they leave, at least 55 percent have, the
report states. They're using drugs at home and parties. They're
drinking alcohol. Forty-one percent of the seniors surveyed said they
drank alcohol at home with their parents' knowledge.

A third of Angleton High seniors surveyed said they had either passed
out or couldn't remember what happened after drinking alcohol or
taking drugs. Eighteen percent of high school seniors surveyed said
they drank alcohol before having sexual activity they later regretted.

"We are most unhappy," said Pat Montgomery, director of academic
services for the district. "We have a tremendous number of students
who are making poor choices. This is a community issue."

More than 850 students in grades 6, 9 and 12 took the survey in
mid-March. The survey pool represents about 60 percent of the student
population in those grades. Survey results were presented at a school
board meeting this month.

The percentage of students who said they have used drugs remained
similar to previous years, but cocaine use appeared to be on the rise.
However, the survey showed 88 percent of 6th-graders surveyed have low
or no drug use, compared to 70 percent of 9th-graders and 58 percent
of 12th graders.

"We know that our kids know that drugs are bad, but they are still
using the drugs," Montgomery said.

Most 12th graders said it was easy to get alcohol and drugs, including
marijuana and cocaine.

More than 40 percent of Angleton Middle School sixth-graders said it
was easy to get alcohol, inhalants and cigarettes.

In some instances, underage drinkers are getting their older friends
to buy alcohol and they are drinking without thinking about the
harmful effects, said Angleton Police Corporal Richard Stone.

Police conduct alcohol stings, when officers send teenagers into a
store to see if the clerk will sell them alcohol or cigarettes. In the
last sting, Stone said only one store sold alcohol to a minor and
another sold a tobacco product to a minor.

Compared to national statistics, Angleton students experiment with
drugs more than their peers in the rest of the country.

For example, the percentage of 12th graders who have tried alcohol was
77 percent nationally compared to 83 percent in Angleton. Use of
marijuana was 55 percent in Angleton, compared to the 46 percent
national average.

Montgomery hopes a program call Character Counts will reverse the
trend. The program focuses on desired character traits, including
caring, citizenship, responsibility and respect. Anytime a bad
decision is made it's probably because one of the character traits was
violated, she said.

"I have to decide that doing drugs is wrong because it's a violation
of my character," Montgomery said. "It has to be the whole community
joining forces."

Passersby might have noticed Angleton police have gotten involved. The
marquee in front of the station has a character trait listed. Stone
said the program attempts to reaffirm the message, which for many came
during elementary school as part of Drug Abuse Resistance Education,
or D.A.R.E.

"We're getting the message to the kids, but when they get older it's
peer pressure," Stone said.

The survey also is being used to educate the community.

"We don't want to scare them with the statistics, but we don't want
them to put their heads in the sand," Montgomery said.