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Survey: California Students Experimenting With Prescription Drugs
Don Thompson | San Jose Mercury News | 10/05/2006

SACRAMENTO - California students are abusing prescription pills - often stolen from their parents' medicine cabinets - even as their use of alcohol and illicit drugs such as marijuana has leveled off, according to a state survey released Wednesday.

The study of 10,638 middle and high school students found that 15 percent of 11th graders, 9 percent of ninth graders and 4 percent of seventh graders are using pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription.

Prescription drugs such as painkillers trailed only alcohol and marijuana as students' drug of choice. Inhalants had ranked third previously.

"We will be targeting our research now on the issue of prescription drug use to make certain that this does not continue to increase," said Kathryn Jett, director of the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

"As a parent, you need to be vigilant as to where those drugs are kept. Or if you have painkillers and don't need them, you need to dispose of them. If you have painkillers and you do need them, count them - know how many are there."

The agency conducts the survey every two years with the state attorney general's office and California Department of Education.

The survey conducted between September 2005 and February of this year was the first one to ask students about their use of pharmaceuticals. Students in 113 middle and high schools took part and answered the questionnaire anonymously.

Besides trolling for pills in their parents' medicine chests, students obtain prescription drugs at parties through an activity they call "pharming," Rodney Skager, who has directed the survey for 20 years. It involves someone setting out a bowl of randomly collected pills.

"Young people come in and grab the ones that look pretty and take them," Skager said. "This is obviously a really dangerous practice. I have no idea how common it is."

The rest of the survey offered more encouraging news.

The percentage of California seventh graders reporting they drank beer or wine in the last six months dropped from 40 percent in the survey taken a decade ago to less than 20 percent in the most recent survey.

Among ninth graders, the drop was from about 60 percent 10 years ago to about 40 percent. Nearly 70 percent of 11th graders reported drinking beer 20 years ago, compared with fewer than half the students in the most recent survey.

The use of inhalants and marijuana among all three age groups also declined in recent years after increasing during the late 1990s.

State officials credited school substance abuse programs for the decline in experimentation with drugs and alcohol this decade, mirroring a national trend.

But researchers found those programs have not made a dent in high-risk drug and alcohol abusers.

Excessive drinkers are those who seek to get drunk or have five drinks in a row on any three days during the last 30 days. Heavy drug users are defined as those who use marijuana frequently, often combine multiple drugs or use drugs such as powdered or crack cocaine.

Excessive alcohol use was reported by 27 percent of 11th graders, 14 percent of ninth graders and 5.5 percent of seventh graders. High-risk drug use was reported by 17 percent of 11th graders, 11 percent of ninth and 4 percent of seventh graders.

"The kids that are using drugs at the schools are the kids that are predominantly responsible for a lot of the violence and actually the school failure that's occurring," said Gregory Austin, who directs the survey with Skager.

Researchers also were concerned about a 3 percentage point increase in drinking and driving among 11th graders since the last survey.

Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction, said the survey suggests the need for teachers and parents to watch for warning signs and be ready to intervene with students whose behavior changes. He said students who begin doing poorly in school, who become discipline problems, are inattentive in class or stop showing up at all should be of particular concern.

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