Drug use among local youth is "substantially higher" than the national average, according to a school survey of students.
Terry Basolo, director of the Blaine County Community Drug Coalition, said Carey and Wood River schools surveyed eighth- and 12th-grade students on drug use and then passed on the answers to the coalition. Basolo has since then compiled the data and compared local drug use to state and national statistics.
National numbers were taken from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health performed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. State numbers came from the 2008 Idaho Substance Use and School Climate Survey.
Basolo said he'd prefer to not have the survey's complete results revealed because he will be giving a presentation on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in the Wood River High School Distance Learning Lab. The presentation will begin the Winter Wake-Up Conference, lasting until 12:30 p.m. and open to the public.
The conference is also the work of the Blaine County Commissioners and St. Luke's Center for Community Health, which have partnered to bring Dr. Lynn Hankes, addiction specialist, and Rose Quinby, family prevention strategist.
In the drug-use survey, students were asked mainly about tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. Questions addressed use in the past 30 days, youth's perception of risk in using these substances, youth's view of how much parents would disapprove of using these substances, and age when drug use started.
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Students were also asked about cocaine and methamphetamine use in the last 30 days.
For all five drugs, Wood River High School and Middle School had a higher percentage of eighth- and 12th-graders admitting to drug use within the past 30 days than the national average—the only exception being tobacco use among 12th-graders.
"These are the kinds of things that keep those of us who worry about these things up late at night," Basolo told the Ketchum City Council at a Feb. 16 meeting when he presented the survey results.
"You're giving me an anxiety attack," said Councilman Baird Gourlay, "that meth and cocaine use exists in this valley."
Sheriff Walt Femling was at the council meeting and said "drug busts confirm" Basolo's statistics.
Overall, Carey's percentages were much better than those of Wood River schools.
However, Basolo emphasized, this isn't solely a school problem but a community problem. That was addressed in a survey question asking, "How would your parents feel about you doing each of the following?"
For example, only about half of Wood River High School's 12th-graders said their parents would "greatly disapprove" of them drinking or using marijuana.
"What kind of message do we send to children, as adults?" rhetorically asked Councilman Curtis Kemp.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Percentage of 12th-graders reporting drinking alcohol in last 30 days
