ALCOHOL, DRUG USE LOWER IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Survey Of New Westminster Students In Grades 6, 7 And 8 Showed,
Overall, They Do Well In Behaviour, Development

Ashley Currie had good news for New Westminster school trustees: New
Westminster middle school students are doing very well in
developmental assets and behavioural activity.

Currie, a middle school prevention worker hired earlier this year to
conduct a survey about addiction issues and provide timely information
to students about drug and alcohol use, has compiled 150 pages of data
for the district.

Using 40 different categories of developmental assets that other
students in North America are judged by, Currie was able to show what
local students are doing better than the North American average.

For example, Currie said 91 per cent of Grade 6s, 92 per cent of Grade
7s and 93 per cent of Grade 8s report they are motivated to do well in
school, well above the 67 per cent North American average.

And 81 per cent of Grade 6s, 82.5 per cent of Grade 7s and 84 per cent
of Grade 8s report they have knowledge of and comfort with people of
different cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds, significantly
higher than the 42 per cent North American average.

"These are pretty impressive numbers," said Currie, who has been
working since October through funding grants from the Fraser Health
Authority and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

"These are really fantastic achievements for New Westminster."

Currie also pointed out several areas where the district is behind
North American figures. For example, while 16 per cent of New
Westminster Grade 8s surveyed feel that adults in the community value
youth, the continental average is 25 per cent.

And while 39 per cent of Grade 6s, 41 per cent of Grade 7s and 41.5
per cent of Grade 8s report they have high self-esteem, the North
American average is 52 per cent.

"The reason for presenting this information is to see where we can
implement more programs to help students," Currie said.

Currie also broke down figures for alcohol and drug use from New
Westminster students who participated in the survey.

For Grade 6 students, 17 per cent of students reporting said they had
tried alcohol. But of that number, 71 per cent said they had tried it
only one time.

For tobacco, two per cent reported they had tried it. For marijuana,
it was one per cent reporting they had tried it, and for other drugs,
it was 0.5 per cent reporting they had tried it.

For Grade 7 students, 41 per cent of students reporting said they had
tried alcohol, with 42 per cent saying they had only used it one time.

The average age of first use was 11. Compared to the Health Canada
national averages compiled in 2004/05, New Westminster was below the
49 per cent average of students saying they had tried alcohol.

For tobacco, New Westminster's five per cent average of students
trying it was well below the Health Canada national average of 26.2
per cent. For marijuana, New Westminster's five per cent of students
reported they had used marijuana is below the national average of 16.7
per cent.

Currie also pointed out that, in New Westminster, 67 per cent of those
students who said they used marijuana said they had used it between
two and 10 times.

For Grade 8 students, 40 per cent of New Westminster students said
they had used alcohol, compared to the 62.9 per cent national average.
For tobacco, New Westminster's two per cent average was well below the
26.2 per cent national average and for marijuana, the Royal City's
three per cent average is well below the 16.7 per cent national
average. However, 60 per cent of New Westminster students who said
they used marijuana admitted they had used it between two and 10 times.

"Bear in mind this is just the reported number of uses," Currie
said.

Currie also had information for other drugs that students admitted
using and while Ecstasy, magic mushrooms and cocaine were easily
identifiable, caffeine was also on the list.

"It was self-identified by the students," Currie responded. "Students
identified coffee and Red Bull as substances that should be part of
this."

Trustee Lisa Graham thanked Currie for her work, saying that students
had mentioned Currie's name to her and she wanted to pass on the
compliments those students had mentioned to her.

"This data is right up our alley," superintendent John Woudzia said.
"These are things we can incorporate as we move along with our social
responsibility goals."