SURVEY'S OUTCOME TROUBLING

ANGLETON -- Troubling statistics based on a survey of Angleton ISD students have left educators calling for the community to pull together against drug and alcohol use.

About 68 percent of students have never used drugs when they enter high school, but by the time they leave, at least 55 percent have, the report states.  They're using drugs at home and parties.  They're drinking alcohol.  Forty-one percent of the seniors surveyed said they drank alcohol at home with their parents' knowledge.

A third of Angleton High seniors surveyed said they had either passed out or couldn't remember what happened after drinking alcohol or taking drugs.  Eighteen percent of high school seniors surveyed said they drank alcohol before having sexual activity they later regretted.

"We are most unhappy," said Pat Montgomery, director of academic services for the district.  "We have a tremendous number of students who are making poor choices.  This is a community issue."

More than 850 students in grades 6, 9 and 12 took the survey in mid-March.  The survey pool represents about 60 percent of the student population in those grades.  Survey results were presented at a school board meeting this month.

The percentage of students who said they have used drugs remained similar to previous years, but cocaine use appeared to be on the rise.  However, the survey showed 88 percent of 6th-graders surveyed have low or no drug use, compared to 70 percent of 9th-graders and 58 percent of 12th graders.

"We know that our kids know that drugs are bad, but they are still using the drugs," Montgomery said.

Most 12th graders said it was easy to get alcohol and drugs, including marijuana and cocaine.

More than 40 percent of Angleton Middle School sixth-graders said it was easy to get alcohol, inhalants and cigarettes.

In some instances, underage drinkers are getting their older friends to buy alcohol and they are drinking without thinking about the harmful effects, said Angleton Police Corporal Richard Stone.

Police conduct alcohol stings, when officers send teenagers into a store to see if the clerk will sell them alcohol or cigarettes.  In the last sting, Stone said only one store sold alcohol to a minor and another sold a tobacco product to a minor.

Compared to national statistics, Angleton students experiment with drugs more than their peers in the rest of the country.

For example, the percentage of 12th graders who have tried alcohol was 77 percent nationally compared to 83 percent in Angleton.  Use of marijuana was 55 percent in Angleton, compared to the 46 percent national average.

Montgomery hopes a program call Character Counts will reverse the trend.  The program focuses on desired character traits, including caring, citizenship, responsibility and respect.  Anytime a bad decision is made it's probably because one of the character traits was violated, she said.

"I have to decide that doing drugs is wrong because it's a violation of my character," Montgomery said.  "It has to be the whole community joining forces."

Passersby might have noticed Angleton police have gotten involved.  The marquee in front of the station has a character trait listed.  Stone said the program attempts to reaffirm the message, which for many came during elementary school as part of Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E.

"We're getting the message to the kids, but when they get older it's peer pressure," Stone said.

The survey also is being used to educate the community.

"We don't want to scare them with the statistics, but we don't want them to put their heads in the sand," Montgomery said.