CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — A biennial survey was conducted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It looks at drug use and other behaviors in our elementary, junior high, and high school students.Since 1989, the Commonwealth has conducted a biennial survey of youth in the 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grades to gather information about their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.
Profile reports are issued for all counties, and the 2013 document also offers some surprising concerns that are on the minds of students in addition to drugs, including alcohol, bullying, family stability, and even gangs.
“What we see with youth is they are using alcohol and tobacco. After they get out of high school is when they start using the higher drugs,” said Sheila Snyder, director of Clarion County’s Promise. Clarion County’s Promise, Inc. is a community affiliate of the national organization America’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth.
“We also have seen that the class of 2005 was really high on drug use, and it has been going down since then,” continued Snyder.
“However, that’s the young adult right now. We’re not sure where it’s going to go right now. It really shoots up when the students go into 12th grade, and that’s what we see every year. What we try to do is get the younger grades, so we don’t have that higher usage in 12th grade. It’s not a high use, but even one or two kids. This survey was 1300 students across Clarion County and all seven school districts. If you take .5 percent, it’s still a couple kids, but still not good.”
Conducted by the individual schools through the Pennsylvania Department of Education in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the written survey of students is usually administered by the school districts.
“The schools usually do it, but we can help if schools want us to monitor it,” said Snyder. “Sometimes the parents say that it is not anonymous at the schools, so we can come in, and parents feel more comfortable that it’s anonymous. Some of the students are in the classroom when they complete the survey, but generally we take the whole grade and put them in an auditorium or cafeteria, and everyone at that grade level takes it at the same time.”
The earlier data had shown drug use was going down, according to Snyder, but new data appears to point to a leveling off period. She says it is hard to tell with small numbers for heroin use.
There was an increase in the use of synthetic drugs among seniors, but Snyder feels that was because some of the synthetics were legal at the time of the survey. She also felt that the heroin use might go up in the future now that suboxone is not as readily available.
Here are the links to complete reports by county:
Clarion
Venango
Jefferson
The Clarion County Profile Report for 2013 reports the following items:
Gateway Drugs
Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and inhalants are the drugs most commonly used by youth. These drugs are often the first substances abused, leading them to “gateway drugs.”
The most common gateway substance used in Clarion County was alcohol. Overall, 53.9% of students in this county used alcohol in their lifetime. The next most frequent gateway drug used was cigarettes, with 25.9% of students reporting lifetime use, compared to the state 17.6%.
Prescription Drugs
The prescription drug most frequently used by students in Clarion County was a narcotic prescription drug; 7.5% of students reporting their use. The next most frequently used substance was prescription stimulants at 4.8% of students, compared to a state rate of 3.7%
Other Drugs
A low percentage of students in Clarion County use drugs in the “other” category. For lifetime use, the most frequent substance used was a synthetic drug at 4.8% of students, compared to a state rate of 3.4%.
Risky Use Behaviors
Binge drinking and driving while intoxicated are particularly risky substance use behaviors. These behaviors are strongly linked to serious negative health consequences such as alcohol poisoning, automobile brutality, and increased risk of stroke, as well as DUI conviction and resulting complications with employment, college applications, and financial aid.
12.8% of students in Clarion County engaged in binge drinking, a rate higher than the state at 9.7%. 4.7% of students reported drinking while driving, a rate higher than the state rate of 2.9%.
Access and Willingness to Use
57.2% of students chose “friend” as their most frequent source/method of obtaining the alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs they use. The next most frequently used reported source was “other persons” with 33% of students indicating this method, compared to the state rate of 35.5%. 25.2% students showed a willingness to use alcohol, reporting they would like to try it, will use it, or would use it any chance they got, compared to a rate state rate of 24%.
Gambling
Overall, 14.5% of students and Clarion County engaged in gambling for money or anything of value the past 12 months, compared to a state rate of 13.9%.
The most frequently reported form of gambling was playing the lottery or scratch off tickets, with 17.6% of students gambling in the past 12 months, compared to a state rate of 13.4%. For student who engaged in gambling, the average age the first time was 12.2 years old.
Gangs
Gang membership can be viewed as both an outcome predicted by undesirable environment and conditions, a predictor of future anti-social behavior. 4.9% of students in Clarion County reported having belonged to a gang, compared to the state rate of 4.4%. According to the report, the average age they joined was 12.7 years old.
Texting
Rates of texting while driving in Clarion County were highest for 12 graders at 56.6%. 70% of students have been a passenger in a moving vehicle while the driver was texting.
Other Anti-Social Behavior
The most frequent other anti-social behavior in Clarion County was attacking someone with the idea of seriously hurting them, reported by 7.6% of students, lower than the state rate of 8.5%.
Violence
In the past twelve months, 18% of students in Clarion County had been threatened with violent behavior on school property, compared to 18.8% at the state level. 8.1% of students reported having actually been attacked on school property (1.4% of students attacked with weapons). 2.3% of students in Clarion County had brought a weapon to school, a rate higher than the state of 1.8%. Threatening incidents were highest for eighth-graders at 24%, compared to the state rate of 23.7% for that grade.
Overall, 24.5% of students in Clarion County experience bullying on school property, compared to the state rate of 20.9%. 90.3% of students reported that they thought bullying was “wrong” or “very wrong” and 93.6% of students reported that their parents would feel that bullying was “wrong” or “very wrong.”
Depression and Suicide Risk
Overall, the most commonly reported depressed thought was “at times, I think I am no good at all,” reported by 36.9% of students in Clarion County. 35.1% of students actually felt depressed or sad most days. Overall, 18.4% of students in Clarion County seriously considered attempting suicide, a rate higher than the state of 15.6%.
Family Separation
8% of students in Clarion County had a close family member deployed for six more months, and 2.2% of students had a parent or parental figure in the military deployed to war zone.
3.1% of students in Clarion County had a parent or parental figure in jail for a week or more, a rate lower than the state of 4.8%.
Traumatic Events
The most commonly reported traumatic event was the death of a friend/family and reported by 39.7% of students in Clarion County, compared to state rate of 41.2%. 14.8% of students in Clarion County reported changing homes once or twice within the past year, and 1.9% of students reported having changed homes five or more times in the past three years. Clarion County recorded 8.9% of students worrying they would run out of food at home due to money issues compared to state rate of 9.5%, and 3.9% of students having to skip a meal.
DEATHS RELATED TO HEROIN AND OTHER DRUGS
In a recent report issued by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association, the number of deaths related to heroin and other drugs have increased in Pennsylvania as residents of Clarion, Forest, Jefferson, and Venango counties also witness the devastating increase in the effects of the drug.
The heroin overdose death report covers the years of 2009-2013, but the 2013 figures are only complete through July to August, depending on statistics provide by each county. A total of 43 counties provided data, but locally Forest and Venango counties provided no information.
“Data from various years and demographics may be missing or flawed from certain counties which will alter the outcome of various totals to a certain degree,” states the report. The report also looked at the number of multi-drug toxicity.
The number of heroin deaths during the time period was 490, and 2,439 deaths because of multi-drug toxicity. Heroin claimed 47 in 2009; 58 in 2010; 107 in 2011; 154 in 2012; and 124 in 2013.
Multi-drug toxicity claimed 324 in 2009; 356 in 2010; 587 in 2011; 728 in 2012; and 444 in 2013. In is important to note that 2013 figures reflect only part of the year and would likely exceed the previous year when final figures are compiled, especially heroin deaths.
“Multi-drug toxicity refers to the combination of heroin and one or more other opiates, illicit drugs, or prescription drugs found through toxicology,” states the report. “The most common substances found along with heroin are the following: Alprazolam, Citalopram, Mirtazapine, Primidone, Cocaine, Phentermine, Hydrocodone, Ethanol/Alcohol, Codeine, Diazepam, Temazepam, Trazadone, Chlordiazepoxide, Venlafaxine, Amitriptyline, Oxycodone, Clonazepam, Nordiazepam, Methadone, Doxepin, Lamotrigine, Flurazepam, Fentanyl, Tramadol, Sertraline, Oxymorphone, Cyclobenzaprine, Morphine, and Prozac, Marijuana/THC.”
Clarion County recorded six deaths during the same time period, with all of them coming from heroin. Deaths included one in 2009; one in 2011; one in 2012; and three in 2013.
Jefferson County, on the other hand, had a total of 11 deaths, all of them from multi-drug toxicity. Two were in 2009 and nine in 2012.
