Study Finds Public Schools "Infested" with Drugs

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Study Finds Public Schools "Infested" with Drugs

Special Report - August 22, 2007
The presence of drugs and alcohol are “common features of school life” for the vast majority of middle and high school students across the country, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. Released August 16, the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XII: Teens and Parents found that 80 percent of high school students and 44 percent of middle school students attend schools where they have witnessed illegal drug use, dealing, and possession or where they have seen students intoxicated with alcohol or high on drugs. The survey found an upward trend in drug use over the last several years, with the percentage of students attending schools where drugs are present increasing 39 percent for high school students and 63 percent for middle school students between 2002 and 2007. The survey also concluded that students who attend drug-infested schools are five times likelier to use marijuana, 16 times likelier to use stronger drugs, and six times likelier to get drunk at least once a month.

Significantly, the study revealed that parents play a major role in determining whether their children will abuse drugs and alcohol. Children are more likely to engage in such risky behaviors if parents believe their child will try drugs in the future or refuse to limit harmful media consumption, the study found. Among parents with teens in drug-infested schools, 59 percent believe that making their child’s school drug free is an unrealistic goal. In addition, the study points to a “disconnect” between parents and teens when it comes to behavioral expectations. Twenty-nine percent of parents believe their teens will participate in “a lot of drinking in college,” compared to just 11 percent of teens who have the same expectation.

“This fall more than 16 million 12- to 17-year olds will return to middle and high schools where drug dealing, possession and use, and drunk and high students, are commonplace occurrences,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman of CASA in a prepared statement. “Parents should wake up to the reality that their children are going each day to schools where drug use, possession and sale are as much a part of the curriculum as arithmetic and English.”