On Wednesday we previewed the findings of a study on the prevalence of alcohol and drug use among high school students.
The National Drug Abuse Control Council - NDACC says the National High School Epidemiological Survey was commissioned to find out exactly what drugs if any teens are taking, why and how to stop it. The full report was released today and as expected the news is not good.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The 100 pages behind this cover tell the tale of the prevalence of drug use among teenaged high school students. It found that substance use and in some cases abuse is a "significant problem" affecting our teenagers and so instead of saying no, they are just saying yes.
And teens are saying yes to:
Alcohol: 3 out of every 4 student had taken a drink in the past year Out of that amount - 1 out of every 4 drank more than 6 drinks a day.
Cigarettes 4 students out of every 10 has smoked at least once About 2 students out of those 4 are regular smokers And 1 out of every ten regular smokers admits to smoking at least 20 cigarettes a day.
Illegal Drugs (Marijuana topping the list) 1 of out every 5 high school students has tried marijuana 1 of out every 3 has smoked a joint in just the last year And of that amount - 22.9% are regular smokers of marijuana
The data was sampled from 1,700 high school students who filled out this four-page form. Few were prepared for the answers which show that children as young as 8 start drinking. Another alarming statistic is that young girls are also drinking and smoking.
Ornel Brooks, Executive Director - NDACC
"We are seeing that in the area of cigarette and alcohol, the percentage of females users is higher than male from the survey and that is the trend that we think is quite disturbing. Traditionally in Belize we have also seen that it was the male gender that were the predominant users of both licit and illicit drugs but we are seeing a slight shift in usage by the females."
Keith Swift,
"Why do you think there is this high percentage of usage among teenage girls?"
Ornel Brooks,
""I can't give you any empirical evidence as such but times are changing and we are seeing where there is gender equality not only in Belize but throughout the world as such and what one gender does, the other seeks to do so. It's almost like a catching up game as such."
The report also broke down substance use by grade level, type of school, and other categories such as whether or not a student repeats a class or not. Belize's drug use prevention czar Ornel Brooks says one theme is constant and that is the alarming rate of drug use among young people.
Ornel Brooks,
"We know that from time past, drinking was being done at a very early age in our country - it's a tradition. But what we are seeing now is that it is becoming a fashion, which is quite different, and kids are gravitating towards drinking and smoking at a very early age. The average age of first use is 12 but that is the average age. There are those who through the survey have said that the first age of use was as low as 8 years old."
"I think the general concern prevails that drugs is readily available - both licit and illicit. The access to it is much too high and that should be of major concern to the nation as a whole."
And it certainly is a concern to Ministry of Health CEO Henry Anderson who has had his first glance at the report this morning.
Dr. Henry Anderson, CEO - Ministry of Health
"There are certain things that jump at us which we will have to look at. Two that I will touch on is the prevalence of the use of tobacco and alcohol, which is higher among females than in males. If you look around you and walk in a classroom at UB you see an average of about four females to a male so when you get this sort of information coming out - you say 'alright.' You also see that there is a high correlation between not doing well in school and using drugs so that is of concern. Also we are seeing that 34% of respondents said they had discussed the issue with their parents. So again it's pointing out that we need to work with the family units to strengthen that. As I said in the launching of this, the health of the nation is the wealth of a nation and what this is indicating is that with the youths who are our future - there are some issues here that we need to have a response to."
So parents, now you know that children are drinking up and lighting up more than ever. The question now is what can be done to stop it.
The survey was conducted in February of 2002 at 23 high schools. 1,731 second and fourth formers were interviewed. Similar surveys were carried out in the region. Of note is that this is the first comprehensive study on teen drug use. As to how this relates to the larger society, well no study on the entire population's drug use has ever been made.