NEW YORK STATE Teen drinking tops national rate N.Y. conducts largest-ever drug survey BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
Nearly half of high school seniors reported drinking alcohol. Thirty-one percent of seniors reported binge drinking. Eighteen percent of seniors reported abusing prescription pain medications. These are some of the findings in the 2008 Youth Development Survey, recently released by the New York State Offi ce of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. More than 100,000 students in grades seven through 12 were surveyed, in over 400 schools, making the Youth Development Survey the largest youth survey ever conducted by the state. The survey shows that prescription drug use in New York is on the rise, with 18 percent of youths saying they’ve abused prescription drugs, compared to 13 percent nationally. This means that more than 38,000 high school seniors have taken painkillers to get high, according to OASAS. The percentage of high school seniors — 49 percent — who reported drinking alcohol in the 30-day period before they were surveyed was also higher than the national average of 43 percent. Overall, teen use of most illicit substances is low, according to the survey. “While 10 percent of all youth reported ever having tried marijuana, and 10 percent had ever used inhalants to get high, less than 2 percent of all youth reported ever trying any cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, hallucinogenics or methamphetamine,” the survey says. OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo called the survey “a call to action,” and said that OASAS will use it to develop a plan to guide policy and resource development and to allocate a new $10 million federal prevention grant. “There are 100,000 high school seniors who are drinkers or prescription drug users,” Carpenter-Palumbo said. “It’s not just a few kids.” She said school districts often claim that their students are not the ones who are using. “For the districts who tell us they don’t have a problem, this gives them specifics.” Alcohol, she said, is always going to be the No. 1 problem with teens, “because it’s ..............>>>>...................>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....301&ViewMode=GIF
Gee....one more thing this state leads in that we can all be proud of, huh?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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