Extra Drug Education

Progress on some problems has to be measured in small steps, as a recent survey on illegal drug use among junior and senior high school students in San Diego County indicates.

The anonymous poll of 3,484 students in the 7th, 10th and 12th grades, conducted by the county Office of Education, the San Diego Unified School District and the county Department of Drug Abuse Services, found that:

* Students who report using marijuana once a month or more declined from 20% in 1985 to 15% in 1988.

* The use of cocaine once a month or more dropped from 8% to 4%.

* The use of amphetamines once a month or more dropped from 10% to 6%.

Experimental use of all three drugs dropped as well.

Alcohol use, however, seems to have increased among the older students in the last three years. Sixty-six percent of high school seniors reported drinking once a month or more, which is up from 61% in 1985. That is probably to be expected, as illegal drug use has declined in popularity.

County schools Supt. Thomas C. Boysen credited drug education programs for the drop and recommended that they be continued or expanded. He also called for more drug- and alcohol-abuse treatment programs for adolescents, and advocated strict penalties for drug and alcohol use.

Those recommendations are well-taken, especially when drug-education programs are not yet available to all students.

But there is a group of students who need more. The children at greatest risk of developing addictions to drugs or alcohol are those whose parents are drug or alcohol abusers. For example, research indicates that children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than children whose parents are not alcoholics.

The National Assn. for Children of Alcoholics estimates that four to six children in a class of 25 students have one or more parents with a drinking or drug problem.

Educators and psychologists say these students are also more likely to skip school, drop out, or get in trouble. Low self-esteem often prevents them from achieving as much as they might.

For these students, a one-day, one-week or one-month lesson on the dangers of drugs is not enough. Programs need to be developed to identify these children and provide them with more intense drug-abuse prevention education and counseling.

Student assistance teams of teachers and counselors, similar to employee assistance programs, are available at 57 schools to help get counseling or treatment for students who show signs of drug problems. But, if these children can be identified earlier, some of the drug abuse and related problems might be avoided.

Few people are in a better position to spot these high-risk students than teachers, nurses and counselors. But they need training in what to look for. The San Diego Unified School District has received $20,000 from the state to develop such a program.

It’s a small step, but one with promise. Alcoholism and drug addiction are family diseases, passed along from generation to generation.

Programs that can interrupt that cycle are likely to have the greatest long-term results in combating drug problems, both in school and afterward.