39% OFFERED DRUGS AT SCHOOL

Survey Finds 5 Percent Jump Since '99

Thirty-nine percent of Clark County School District high school
students say they have been offered illegal drugs on their school
campus, a new survey says.

This is a 5 percent increase over 1999 figures and is the highest
percentage since the study began in 1995.

School officials said the survey, part of a statewide study on
student attitudes and behaviors toward drugs, alcohol, tobacco and
violence, also showed tobacco use by high school students in Clark
County has dropped 6 percent in two years.

"It's an unfortunate reality that any place that students gather is a
risky time for obtaining illegal substances, whether it's a school,
or the movies or the mall," said Ron Ross, school district
administrative specialist who coordinated the survey results. "Our
position is that drugs on campus violate both the school policy and
law.

"The schools do all they can in terms of prevention and intervention,
but there is a limit to what we can do."

The survey, part of the biennial "Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey"
released today, asked 3,700 Clark County students about their
attitudes on drugs, violence and alcohol last spring. Students needed
parental consent to participate, officials said.

Among the findings:

One in four students said they had used marijuana in the past month,
and 9 percent said they had used marijuana on school grounds during
the same period.

Students who said they used cocaine in the last 30 days rose from 5
percent two years ago to 7 percent this year, matching the numbers
for methamphetamine use. Sixteen percent of students said they had
used methamphetamines in their lifetime.

Forty-six percent of students said they drank alcohol in the previous
30 days, a drop from 50 percent in the survey two years ago. Nine
percent said they had drunk alcohol on campus, and 31 percent said
they had drunk alcohol for the first time before age 13.

Students who said they had ridden in a car driven by someone who had
been drinking alcohol dropped from 35 percent to 29 percent from 1999.

"High school tends to be a time of experimentation, and pot still
seems to be the gateway drug of choice," said Sgt. Ken Young of the
school district's police force. "That's why it's so important that
parents and schools give kids ways to say no, and provide real
diversions."

Clark County teens who said they had smoked cigarettes in the
previous 30 days dipped from 31 percent in 1999 to 25 percent in
2001. The local findings mirror statewide results, which showed an 8
percent drop in smoking high school students from 33 percent in 1999
to 25 percent last year.

"Tobacco control isn't about the schools, it's about a community-wide
attitude," Ross said. "This is very good news for all of us."

The tobacco figures were a welcome surprise to Maria Azzarelli, Clark
County Health Dristrict's youth tobacco-control educator.

"When I first saw the numbers, I thought there had been a mistake,"
Azzarelli said. "I was delighted to see we exceeded our own
expectations. We're moving in the right direction."

Azzarelli credited aggressive education campaigns that target teens
from the health district and other public agencies.

The health district's anti-tobacco youth coalition, which started in
the summer of 2000 with 30 teen volunteers, now has 800 members,
Azzarelli said.

"We're seeing a heightened awareness among teens about the dangers of
tobacco," Azzarelli said.

The survey asked students about their emotional behavior, including
depression and suicide.

Of the Clark County students surveyed, 22 percent of the students
said they had seriously considered killing themselves in the previous
12 months while 12 percent had actually attempted suicide. Statewide
results showed 19.6 percent of high school students said they had
considered suicide while 11 percent had attempted it.

The survey also asked students about their sexual behavior, with 47
percent reporting they have had intercourse. The figure was down just
1 percent from two years ago, but 8 percent less than the 55 percent
recorded in 1995.

Eleven percent said they had been forced to have sexual intercourse
when they did not want it.

The number of students who said they have had unprotected sexual
intercourse was 26 percent, the same figure reported in 1999.

Responses to questions about on-campus violence were largely
unchanged from 1999. Both in the 2001 and 1999 surveys, 8 percent of
students said they had carried a weapon onto school property, 9
percent said they had been threatened with a weapon on campus in the
previous 12 months, and 14 percent said they had been involved in a
physical fight at school.