The following is a compilation of results from the Spring 2006 state-issued Healthy Kids Survey:
GRADE 5
Among the 173 fifth-graders, 87% of the total fifth-grade population, interviewed:
34% of them claimed to have drunk alcohol at some point in their lives; 2% said they had used marijuana, an increase of 1% from two years ago. Compared to Spring 2004, tobacco use among fifth-graders has decreased from 3% to 1%.Most striking was that 5% of fifth-graders alleged that they had carried a knife or gun to school in the past year; 16% said they saw someone at school with a knife or gun.
GRADE 7
187 seventh-graders, 83% of that grade, completed the survey. Only 24% of them admitted to having alcohol at some point in their lives, but 13% said they had used inhalants (sniffing glue or paint), and 10% had used marijuana.
Of these students:
18% of them had admitted to having a whole drink of alcohol in the past 30 days; 7% had used marijuana and inhalants; 3% had smoked tobacco in the past 30 days, but only 1% smoked daily; 10% of students had admitted to being very drunk or sick from alcohol, and an equal number said they had been high from using drugs “” the same amount that claimed to have used marijuana.Marijuana and alcohol use levels have increased since the Spring 2004 survey, while smoking has slightly decreased.
15% said they belonged to a gang.
GRADE 9
With 70% of ninth-graders, 219 students, completing the survey:
56% said they had had a whole alcoholic drink in their life; 35% said they had been very drunk or sick afterward; and 12% said they had been drunk on school property; 17% said they had binge-drank (had five drinks in a row); 10% used inhalants; 26% had used marijuana, with an equal amount reporting they had been high from drugs. Lifetime marijuana and inhalant use has decreased from Spring 2004.Within the past 30 days:
33% had used alcohol; 3% had used inhalants; and 13% had used marijuana “” 4% of those on school property. 28% had reported trying at least a puff of a cigarette in their life, with 20% trying a whole cigarette. 12% had smoked within the past 30 days; none said they smoked daily.24% said they had been in a car with a drinking driver, either themselves or someone else.
GRADE 11
Of 155 students, 67%, interviewed:
69% had reported using alcohol at some point in their lives (52% had tried a whole drink in the past 30 days); 50% had used marijuana (33% within the past month); 10% had used inhalants (3% in the past month); 32% had been drunk on campus and 12% had used marijuana on campus in the past month. 55% had consumed alcohol to the point of being very drunk or sick; and 49% had been high from using drugs; 41% said they had engaged in binge-drinking (at least five drinks in one sitting) in the past 30 days.Recent use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs has increased since the prior survey in Spring 2004.
48% had tried at least a puff of a cigarette in their life, but only 37% had tried a whole cigarette. 24% had smoked during the past 30 days, with 18% smoking daily. 96% found cigarette smoking to be harmful if used frequently.
33% said they have driven after using or been driven by someone who had used alcohol.
