Teens smoking, drinking alcohol less, survey finds

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

Fewer Hawai'i teenagers are lighting up or hitting the bottle, but an increasing number are using the illegal club drug Ecstasy, according to a survey of nearly 28,000 students.

The latest edition of the biannual survey of public and private school students here shows that, overall, substance use and abuse continued to decline in 2002.

For example, among Hawai'i high school seniors, smoking is down 21 percent since 1996 and drinking is down 12 percent since 1987. Methamphetamine use is down by more than half since 1989.

However, 10.6 percent of seniors said they have used Ecstasy at least once, compared to 5.3 percent in 1998.

Hawai'i is below the national average is most categories.

State Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino credited prevention and treatment programs, along with community members, for the positive trends but added, "We continue to have great concern about the number of adolescents using and abusing substances and needing substance-abuse treatment."

The 2002 Hawai'i Student Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Study by the state Department of Health and the University of Hawai'i surveyed students in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades at 181 public and 34 private schools.

Elaine Wilson, chief of the Health Department's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, said the department is providing treatment to students in 20 of Hawai'i's 44 high schools and in three of 56 middle schools. Wilson acknowledged that the need for treatment services far outweighs the resources available to provide them.

Wilson said the state resources for adolescent programs have been about the same for the past decade. She estimates that 11,000 students need treatment, although only 1,500 can get treatment in school-based programs because of limited money.

She said more treatment would mean "you actually would have less crime. You'd have fewer people on welfare. You'd have more people at work. You'd have families getting along better."

Some Waipahu Intermediate students who visited the State Capitol yesterday to support after-school programs said they think the message is getting out that drugs can be harmful.

Eighth-grader Jerwin Sacalamitao said he believes substance abuse is going down for legal and illegal drugs. "I see less people using cigarettes, alcohol," he said. "People are starting to think that they're not cool anymore."

But Samantha Misa, 13, isn't sure that people tell the truth on the surveys. While she and her friends don't do drugs, she said, she sees other people more interested in "hanging out with their girlfriends" than paying attention to school. "I believe it's going up," Misa said.

UH Associate Professor Renee Pearson, principal investigator for the study, said the encouraging results can continue if the state continues prevention and treatment programs. "The majority of students have not tried illegal drugs," she said.

One area that bucked the trend was the illegal drug Ecstasy, which increased in grades 8, 10 and 12. "It's nearly doubled among our 12th grade. We have one out of 10 kids trying Ecstasy," Pearson said.

Charlee Malott, co-executive director of the Kalihi YMCA, said the community needs to help kids stay in school and avoid the pressure to do drugs. "By staying in school, they continue to have a structure that helps them address those issues that come up around the drug use."

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