CASA Study Shows School Kids Have Easy Access to Drugs
by Mary Rettig
August 29, 2005
(AgapePress) - The head of research for an annual survey of adolescents conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University says its study has found that teenagers today have more access to drugs at school than in previous years. That widespread access, along with another surprising factor, may mean more teens are at risk than many parents realize.Elizabeth Planet says the CASA survey found that 62 percent of high school students say drugs are in the schools, and 28 percent of middle school students report the same. And both of these statistics, she notes, have increased since last year.
Availability has a proven effect on whether kids will start using drugs, Planet says. Despite law enforcement's drug-free zone efforts and schools' zero-tolerance policies, she reveals that responses to some of the questions asked on the Center's survey suggest there has been little progress made toward decreasing the availability of illicit drugs in and around schools.
For instance, the researcher says the CASA survey asks teens, "How long would it take you to buy marijuana if you wanted to?" And this year, 42 percent of the young people said they "can get marijuana within a day," she points out, "and about 21 percent of them, or about five and a half million, say that they can get marijuana within an hour."
Those numbers have not changed since 2001, Planet explains, and they are particularly alarming when put them in a nationwide context. She says that 42 percent of teens who said they could acquire marijuana within a day represents, "about 11 million [adolescents], if you take those numbers and apply them to the national census estimates."
But while the CASA spokeswoman emphasizes the high correlation between drug availability and drug use, she says this latest survey also tackled the issue of whether R-rated movies have an effect on teen substance abuse. Interestingly, she says 43 percent of the teens surveyed revealed that they watched three or more "Restricted" movies a month.
"We looked at that in connection with substance abuse risk," Planet says, "and we found that compared to kids who see no R-rated movies in a typical month, those who see three or more are seven times likelier to try cigarettes, five times likelier to try alcohol, and six times likelier to try marijuana. So there is an association there."
However, Planet acknowledges that CASA cannot determine from the survey results exactly why there is a connection between R-rated movies and substance abuse by teens. She says the Center intends to study the topic further. Meanwhile, the researcher adds, she hopes this latest report will wake more parents up to the fact that their kids are at risk so these parents, along with their local school districts, can begin to address the problem.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
