Cliff Buchan
News EditorWhen it comes to drugs and drug use, how do Forest Lake students compare to their peers across the state?
And are local programs to combat drug use working?
These are two of the key questions officials in ISD 831 hope to receive answers for this month when the Minnesota Student Survey is given to sixth, ninth and 12th graders. The survey, given every three years, is widely used by communities across the state to measure health and lifestyle issues of youth.
At the forefront of the issues facing youth are drugs.
In Forest Lake, students will be surveyed at the three levels during the span March 15-26. Local results should be available this fall, said Chuck Moses, safe and drug free schools coordinator for the K-12 schools.
Participation in the survey is optional on the part of parents and students. Moses said district parents are now being notified of plans to administer the survey and how they can opt out if that is their desire.
History of survey
The survey has been given every three years in the district and was first implemented in 1989. The survey is provided by the stateís department of education and is administered locally by the school district with assistance from the Tri-County Youth and Family Partnership.
The partnership teams with the school district every three years to share findings of the survey at a public meeting.
The benefits of the survey run deep, Moses says.
The survey results, he said, help the district pinpoint behavior patterns of youth and are vital in the evaluation of programs used by the district to combat drug use by youth.
ěDo prevention programs make a difference?î Moses asked in explaining how the survey results help district officials monitor their programs.
Moses said he was relieved in late February when local school officials elected to proceed with the Minnesota Student Survey under its existing format. That plan calls for parental notification the survey is being given and how parents can opt out.
After state officials raised a red flag earlier this winter, Forest Lake was among many state districts that considered an ěactiveî form of notification that would require parents and guardians to formally sign off on a form granting permission for their son or daughter to take part, Moses said.
After the department of education backed off on that requirement, most districts ó roughly 90 percent in the state ó will continue with the ěpassiveî form of participation, Moses said.
Under the ěactiveî format, Moses said he feared many parents would not take the time to return the district generated paperwork and the survey results would have been diluted to the point where the results would be less meaningful.
Under the districtís long-standing policy, some of the questions for the younger students will be removed based on local considerations, Moses said.
ěWeíd really be behind if we didnít have this data,î Moses said, pleased by the decision to proceed under the old guidelines.
ěThis is the kind of information we need; itís not to make parents uncomfortable with questions.î
Moses, a 28-year employee of the district, said he expects about 98 percent of the districtís Grade 6 students to take the survey. Between 70-80 percent of the districtís Grade 9 students will take the 40-minute survey.
Only about half of the districtís senior class will take the survey, he said. Many seniors simply choose not to take the survey and that has been a common trend since 1989, he said.
As an evaluation tool used to measure how prevention programs are working, Moses said the Minnesota Students Survey is invaluable.
Along with questions dealing with drugs, the survey covers a wide range of issues involving youth lifestyle. They include topics on school perceptions, family and environmental issues, general health, mental health questions, including suicide, and sexual behavior.
2001 data
The 2001 Minnesota Student Survey provided a snapshot of youth health issues.
The survey found that 41 percent of the boys and 42 percent of the girls in Grade 9 had used alcohol during the last 30 days. At the Grade 12 level, 49 percent of males and 42 percent of females used alcohol during the previous 30 days.
In terms of marijuana use during the last 30 days, 23 percent of the boys and 16 percent of the girls in Grade 9 had used the drug. At the Grade 12 level, 29 percent of boys had used marijuana and 14 percent of the girls had used the drug.
Use of amphetamines during the past 12 months was reported by 13 percent of Grade 9 boys and 6 percent of Grade 12 boys. Among girls, 13 percent at Grade 9 had used amphetamines while 7 percent of Grade 12 girls used the drug.
The percentage of use of methamphetamine and cocaine did not reach the levels of marijuana or amphetamines.
Some 7 percent of Grade 9 boys and 8 percent of Grade 9 girls used meth during the past 12 months. For the same period, 3 percent of Grade 12 boys and Grade 12 girls used meth.
During the past 12 months, 6 percent of Grade 9 boys and girls said they used some form of cocaine, including crack, while at the Grade 12 level, 3 percent of the boys and 2 percent of the girls reported using cocaine during the 12-month period.
The survey also found that students in Grades 9 and 12 were using ecstasy, LSD, heroin and other opiates, barbiturates or tranquilizers or were sniffing or inhaling glue. The percentage of use for the two grade levels ranged from 8 percent of the boys and girls at Grade 9 who were sniffing glue to 1 percent of the Grade 12 boys and 4 percent of the Grade 12 girls who had used ecstasy.
Five percent of the Grade 9 and Grade 12 boys reported using heroin during the past 12 months.
Grade 6 data
Students at the Grade 6 level were not immune from drug and alcohol use, the survey found.
The survey found that 91 percent of Grade 6 students had no occasions to drink alcohol during the past 30 days, but 8 percent of boys and 2 percent of girls reported use of alcoholic beverages on one or two occasions.
A total of 16 percent of Grade 6 boys and 10 percent of Grade 6 girls had one or two occasions in which they had an alcoholic beverage during the last 12 months.
In a survey question dealing with marijuana use, 2 percent of the boys and 1 percent of the girls in Grade 6 said they had used the drug one or two times during the last 12 months. Three percent of the boys and 2 percent of the girls said they had sniffed or inhaled glue one or two times during the last month.
Peer influence
In questions dealing with access to drugs during the last 30 days, the 2001 survey found that 82 percent of boys and 91 percent of girls in Grade 9 acquired drugs from friends. At the Grade 12 level, 70 percent of males and 79 percent of females got drugs from friends.
Some 30 percent of Grade 9 boys and 56 percent of Grade 9 girls got drugs at parties. At Grade 12, 41 percent of boys and 38 percent of girls got drugs at parties.
On the survey question dealing with the use of alcohol or other drugs, 17 percent of Grade 9 boys and 19 percent of the Grade 12 boys used drugs before school. Nine percent of Grade 9 girls and 6 percent of Grade 12 girls used drugs before school.
Some 10 percent of boys and 7 percent girls in Grade 9 said they used drugs during school. A total of 14 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls at Grade 12 said they used drugs during school.
After school drug use was reported by 26 percent of the boys and 18 percent of the girls in Grade 9. In the Grade 12 survey, 25 percent of the boys and 6 percent of the girls reported using drugs right after school.
When asked why students elect to not use drugs, 59 percent of the boys and 60 percent of girls in Grade 6 said their friends donít use drugs, and 54 percent of the boys and 60 percent of girls said one or both of their parents would object.
A total of 70 percent of the Grade 6 boys and 79 percent of the Grade 6 girls said they had no desire to use drugs.
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