LISBON MAN QUESTIONING HIGH SCHOOL DRUG SURVEY METHOD

One Lisbon resident is wondering why area school districts plan to take
part in a survey next month to figure out how many Students use drugs or
alcohol and why, when the individual school results won't be released to
the communities with suspected abuse problems.

Larry Seguin says that the only purpose that the surveys serve is for
agencies like the Seaway Valley Council for Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Prevention, Inc., which is based in Canton, to stay in business and keep
school district residents paying money out for studies and programs that
are ineffective in preventing teens from using drugs or alcohol.

One such ineffective program, he said, is Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(D.A.R.E.). He said a D.A.R.E. officer comes into a school district and
tells fifth and sixth graders about the effects of drug and alcohol
abuse. Some of the information is correct, and some is not, he said.

For example, students are told that Smoking marijuana is addictive. They
are told that using heroin or cocaine is addictive. Then, when a student
experiments and smokes marijuana and doesn't become addicted, he figures
that what he was told by the D.A.R.E. officer was a lie. When the teen
tries cocaine, and then uses it over and over again, he becomes addicted.

The students need to be told the truth up front, argues Seguin. No matter
how much money is spent on surveys or on drug use prevention, no community
will ever be 100 percent drug free, he argued.

The districts should bow out of the survey since the results will be
county-wide and will not be reflective of individual schools. How will
Lisbon's or Ogdensburg's community know a drug or alcohol problem exists
when the entire county is lumped together in this survey, he asked.

Seguin believes there is a low number of students who regularly use drugs
or alcohol. He believes that the whole issue is being "overplayed."

He said that the schools have a revised dress code and school policy that
includes a section that states students can be strip searched.

"Columbine started things off, but violence is its lowest point now. Many
students die in car crashes. Students need to be kept safe, but I'm not so
sure that all the kids should be penalized for the low percentage of
students using drugs. It's hurting our educational system. Teachers
should be spending more time educating instead of watching the kids," He
reasoned.

Oftentimes the results of surveys are misleading, especially when all of
the pertinent information is not included, he said.

For example, students at Lisbon Central School (LCS) took part in a
previous survey that examined student drug and alcohol usage. A flyer was
taped to the wall in the school showing the results, he recalled.

A copy of the flyer read as follows: "According to a recent LCS Poll: 70
percent of LCS students smoke cigarettes socially; 30 percent of LCS
students are addicted to nicotine; 80 percent of LCS students Drink alcohol
socially; 85 percent of LCS students have tried a drug, with marijuana
being the most popular; 45 percent of LCS students use drugs daily. The
Student Assistant Counselor is available every Wednesday in room 155."

These posted results would make the average school visitor think that the
school has a serious drug and alcohol problem. When in fact, only 20
students took the survey, said Seguin.

After speaking with former School Superintendent Wayne Chesbrough about the
survey and the posted results, Seguin said that he asked the superintendent
to add a note on the bottom of the flyer, that stated, "This is the result
of 20 kids. Chesbrough took them (surveys) down," said Seguin.

Seguin believes the drug problem in the schools "is not as much as it is
played up to be. It's being overplayed because of money."

The results of the survey create an opportunity to compete for Safe and
Drug Free grant funding by being able to document the needs for the
programs. "The government is giving money to find drug problems. One feeds
the other," said Seguin.

If the school districts in the county go ahead and have their students
participate in the survey, then it shouldn't be done like in Lisbon, he
said. "It should not be monitored by a group that will gain from it. It
should give more specific results, the grades, the schools, the
results. Could the questionnaire be taken two ways?" he asked.

"You can't keep the schools 100 percent drug free...Treating kids as
criminals for a handful...Spending billions of dollars on a drug war that
hasn't accomplished anything," he stated.

A total of 16 schools out of the county's 18 districts are participating in
the "Communities that Care" survey. Harrisville students have already
taken it; Hammond Central has declined, saying that the school is too
small. Students in grades 6,8,10,and 12 will take the survey during the
second week in November. Permission slips will be sent home before hand.

The surveys will be mailed to the Developmental Research and Programs (DEP)
office in Seattle, Wash. The results should be known in mid-to-late January.

The Seaway Valley Council believes that the "Communities That Care" youth
survey is a fair way to help school districts find out why some students
use illegal drugs, why others drop out of school, what causes teenage
pregnancy and why some youths commit violent and delinquent acts.

The survey is being provided at no cost to the districts as a result of the
cooperation between the Seaway Valley Council for Alcohol and Substance
Abuse Prevention, Inc., St. Lawrence-Lewis Counties BOCES, the St. Lawrence
County Public Health Department, and the World Enforcement Board(WEB).