Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Drug use below national average at Fisher School

Survey may reflect influence of DARE

By Michelle Alaimo

Students at Fisher Middle School are below the national average for drug and alcohol use, according to recent results from the school's first-ever drug and alcohol survey. But, school officials said, the results are both positive and negative at the same time.

"We have a significant situation that needs to be addressed," said Kathie Friedland, chairwoman of Community Against Substance Abuse (CASA).

The survey, sponsored by CASA, was administered last October to 92 percent of the students at the school. Of the 888 who took the anonymous survey, 307 were sixth-graders, 317 were seventh-graders and 264 were eighth-graders. Principal Cullen Hewitt said he thought it was time to have his students take a drug survey in order to have some kind of baseline for where Fisher students stand on drug and alcohol use.

And the results show that Fisher's eighth-grade students have lower-than-average histories of drug and alcohol use compared to their peers at other schools nationwide. No national average results are available for sixth- and seventh-graders, Friedland said.

In response to a question on the survey asking students which drugs they have used in the past 12 months, Fisher eighth-graders answered:

*11 percent have been drunk, compared to the national average of 19 percent

*14 percent have used marijuana, compared to the national average of 18 percent

* 1 percent have used cocaine, compared to the national average of 3 percent

*11 percent have used inhalants, compared to the national average of 12 percent.

Students indicated a 1 percent or lower use of stimulants, nitrites, downers, hallucinogens, PCP, heroin and narcotics.

Seventh-grade results indicated that in the last 12 months, 4 percent have been drunk, 5 percent have smoked marijuana, 9 percent have used inhalants and 1 percent have used cocaine.

Sixth-graders at Fisher had low results in most categories. The sixth-graders are the first graduates of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program that was taught to all fifth-grade students in the Los Gatos Union School District last year.

Hewitt said he is not surprised by the numbers.

When students were asked if they believe that using a substance regularly will lead to "a lot" of harm, many of them answered that regular drug use is harmful. More than 90 percent of students in all grade levels responded that getting drunk regularly will lead to harm.

However, some students still stated that using drugs, such as marijuana, and sniffing inhalants on a regular basis would not lead to a lot of harm.

Some 65 percent of eighth-graders said smoking marijuana regularly would cause harm, but only 66 percent felt that sniffing inhalants would also lead to harm.

Hewitt said the school, which received the results last week, is still in the process of analyzing the results, but that the results will be shared with school staff and the community. "We aren't trying to hide anything," Hewitt said. Once the results are analyzed, the school will then decide what actions should be taken.

Friedland said the focus of drug prevention--the reason for conducting the survey--is turning toward middle school students in an effort to reach children earlier, before they enter high school.

School officials have not decided if the survey will be conducted again next year.

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