HEROIN USE TOPS RISKY BEHAVIOR LIST

EDMOND -- District high school students are likely to engage in certain
types of risky behavior, including heroin use, according a recently
released survey. The Oklahoma City-County Health Department administered
the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to all Edmond district high school students
last spring. Officials released the survey's results in a community meeting
earlier this week.

Health department officials said the survey has a 5 percent margin of error.

Associate Superintendent Brenda Lyons said the survey gives adults a "path
to follow" in trying to help high school-aged students.

"This is not just a school issue. This is a community problem," she said.

Edmond students rated less likely than the national average to be involved
in many types of risky behavior, but rated more likely than average to be
involved in others.

Some risky behaviors they are more likely to be involved in include
drinking and driving, being threatened or injured with a weapon on school
property, carrying a weapon, being abused by a boyfriend or girlfriend,
being forced to have sexual intercourse, using smokeless tobacco, using
certain types of drugs, and having physical image concerns, according to
the survey.

School administrators are convinced the survey is a valid way of getting
information about students, Lyons said. They were pleased to see that in
many areas Edmond students were close to the national average, she said.
"But anytime your kids engage in risky behavior, you're not happy with
that," she said.

About 17 percent of Edmond students said they had driven after drinking.
The number is about 4 percent higher than the national average.

Lyons said alcohol has been "a problem in Edmond for years." A lot of
parents condone their children drinking alcohol or keep it in the home,
making it easily accessible, she said.

About 11 percent of students surveyed said they had been threatened or
injured with a weapon on school property in the past year. The number was
about 3 percent higher than the national average.

Lyons said she was surprised at the statistic because school officials "do
not have a lot of instances with weapons."

Students surveyed also were higher than the national average in having
carried a weapon or gun in the past month. Health department officials said
the answers apply to any student who has carried a weapon for any reason,
including hunting.

Edmond students surveyed were three times more likely to have used heroin
than the national average. Of the students surveyed, 6 percent said they
had used heroine before. The number is nearly 4 percent above the national
average.

The students also were more likely than the national average to have used
cocaine or an inhalant, but less likely to have used marijuana.

The numbers did not surprise Paul Sinclair, school resource officer. He
said authorities heard several years ago that heroin would be "making a
comeback."

"A lot of times different drugs and narcotics have fads," he said. "This
part of the country is notorious for meth and heroin cooking."

Sinclair said how likely students are to do certain types of drugs depends
on expense and accessibility. He said meth and heroin are cheap and easy to
get.

Janie Bates, alternative education program director, agreed. She said drugs
are cyclical and heroin is making a comeback.

Bates said the return of heroin concerns her because of needles use and how
quickly "cooking" those types of drugs can become toxic if not done correctly.

Associate Superintendent Lyons said school officials plan to look at the
district's curriculum and programs and see how they can be altered to
address areas where students are exhibiting risky behavior.

"This is not information that we will put on a shelf," she said. "Our hope
is that other people will use this information as well. We need all of us
to be working together. "