Sad stats on youthsubstance abuse

There’s no need to throw the baby out with the bath water following information

that indicates Kaua’i schoolchildren as young as sixth-grade age are either

using or have used tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs.

Let’s acknowledge

right up front that the vast majority of children are steering clear of illicit

substances, deserve full-hearted praised for doing so and should be encouraged

to stay clean.

But that’s what they’re supposed to do, thanks to the

positive influence of their parents, other adult role models and their peers.

In other words, that’s not news. So the attention, as so often happens, gets

focused on the comparative few children who slip into bad habits. And substance

abuse is one of the worst, which is why the findings of a state survey of

Kaua’i students are so troubling.

The state’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Division in 1998 polled more than 1,400 pupils in grades six, eight, 10 and 12.

Predictably, the high schoolers, being at an age when experimentation with and

exposure to tobacco and drugs is most prevalent for minors, had the highest

percentage of substance abuse. Among the 234 seniors who were polled, 40

percent were smokers, 53 percent of them drank alcohol, and just under 30

percent were using drugs.

Among eighth-graders, that highly impressionable

age group, 22 percent of the 379 who answered the survey smoked, 26.8 percent

drank and 14 percent used drugs.

Sad stuff. Sadder still was the response

from the 449 surveyed sixth-graders: Ten percent had used tobacco and 15

percent said they’d consumed alcohol in the 30 days prior to being asked. Five

percent had used other drugs.

Educators and community groups are making

valiant efforts to discourage children from poisoning their bodies with

tobacco, alcohol and narcotics. The survey results, assuming they’re a valid

indication of today’s situation, show why the anti-tobacco and anti-drugs

campaigns must continue along with work on ridding the causes of substance

abuse.