39% offered drugs at school

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

Thirty-nine percent of Clark County School District high school students say they have been offered illegal drugs on their school campus, a new survey says.

This is a 5 percent increase over 1999 figures and is the highest percentage since the study began in 1995.

School officials said the survey, part of a statewide study on student attitudes and behaviors toward drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violence, also showed tobacco use by high school students in Clark County has dropped 6 percent in two years.

"It's an unfortunate reality that any place that students gather is a risky time for obtaining illegal substances, whether it's a school, or the movies or the mall," said Ron Ross, school district administrative specialist who coordinated the survey results. "Our position is that drugs on campus violate both the school policy and law.

"The schools do all they can in terms of prevention and intervention, but there is a limit to what we can do."

The survey, part of the biennial "Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey" released today, asked 3,700 Clark County students about their attitudes on drugs, violence and alcohol last spring. Students needed parental consent to participate, officials said.

Among the findings:

"High school tends to be a time of experimentation, and pot still seems to be the gateway drug of choice," said Sgt. Ken Young of the school district's police force. "That's why it's so important that parents and schools give kids ways to say no, and provide real diversions."

Clark County teens who said they had smoked cigarettes in the previous 30 days dipped from 31 percent in 1999 to 25 percent in 2001. The local findings mirror statewide results, which showed an 8 percent drop in smoking high school students from 33 percent in 1999 to 25 percent last year.

"Tobacco control isn't about the schools, it's about a community-wide attitude," Ross said. "This is very good news for all of us."

The tobacco figures were a welcome surprise to Maria Azzarelli, Clark County Health Dristrict's youth tobacco-control educator.

"When I first saw the numbers, I thought there had been a mistake," Azzarelli said. "I was delighted to see we exceeded our own expectations. We're moving in the right direction."

Azzarelli credited aggressive education campaigns that target teens from the health district and other public agencies.

The health district's anti-tobacco youth coalition, which started in the summer of 2000 with 30 teen volunteers, now has 800 members, Azzarelli said.

"We're seeing a heightened awareness among teens about the dangers of tobacco," Azzarelli said.

The survey asked students about their emotional behavior, including depression and suicide.

Of the Clark County students surveyed, 22 percent of the students said they had seriously considered killing themselves in the previous 12 months while 12 percent had actually attempted suicide. Statewide results showed 19.6 percent of high school students said they had considered suicide while 11 percent had attempted it.

The survey also asked students about their sexual behavior, with 47 percent reporting they have had intercourse. The figure was down just 1 percent from two years ago, but 8 percent less than the 55 percent recorded in 1995.

Eleven percent said they had been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want it.

The number of students who said they have had unprotected sexual intercourse was 26 percent, the same figure reported in 1999.

Responses to questions about on-campus violence were largely unchanged from 1999. Both in the 2001 and 1999 surveys, 8 percent of students said they had carried a weapon onto school property, 9 percent said they had been threatened with a weapon on campus in the previous 12 months, and 14 percent said they had been involved in a physical fight at school.