Underage Drug Classes are Needed In America’s High Schools

by: Mike Miller
9/27/2017

As the school season begins this fall we turn our attention to our secondary students. This is the second in a series of blogs regarding the drug and alcohol problems in our nation’s high schools.

A recent study tracked the attitudes of high school students and their perceptions of drug use for 17 years. For seven of the past eight years, the survey has found that about 60 percent of high school students say their schools are "drug-infected" – that drugs are used, kept, or sold on campus. This percentage is up from 44 percent in 2002, but down from 66 percent in 2010. As reported in www.csmonitor.com.

Private schools too are infected. The study showed that more than half of students attending private school (54 percent) say illegal drugs are present at school, up from 36 percent in 2011.

More than half of high school students report that there is a place on or near campus where students go to drink, smoke, or get high, the survey found. About one-third of the students (36 percent) say it is easy for students to do this without getting caught. Also, 44 percent of high school students say they know a student who sells drugs at school. Drugs most often sold by students are marijuana (91 percent), prescription drugs (24 percent), cocaine (9 percent), and Ecstasy (7 percent).

It is evident there are major drug problems in our high schools. More education is only part of the answer. Parents must combine efforts with alcohol officials to keep an eye out for problematic behavior.