Voices for Health

Prescription Take Back Coordinator, Cara Gresham (center) welcomed by San Juan Island Prevention Coalition Coordinator, Cynthia Stark-Wickman (left) and Chair, Brad Fincher.

CALL FOR INCREASED INVESTMENT IN PREVENTION

 

Article by Cara Gresham, San Juan Island Prevention Coalition Intern with technical assistance from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)

Washington, D.C. – The 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey, released in December 2009 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan, showed that while there were slight decreases in the use of cocaine and methamphetamine among youth, marijuana and prescription drug abuse showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, marijuana use among adolescents increased gradually over the past two years after years of declining use; and past year rates of Vicodin and OxyContin abuse increased during the last 5 years among 10th graders and remained unchanged among 8th and 12th graders.

Several drugs showed signs of increasing with attitudes softening for drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy, inhalants and LSD. For example, the percentage of 8^th graders who view occasional marijuana use as potentially harmful dropped to 44 percent, compared to 48 percent last year. In addition, the perception of “great risk” associated with marijuana use declined among 8^th and 10^th graders.

 “The 2009 Monitoring the Future survey is a wake-up call to all of us. It shows that our teens still don’t understand the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, such as Vicodin and OxyContin; and they don’t realize the harm that marijuana use can cause,” said Cynthia Stark-Wickman, San Juan Prevention Coordinator. Beliefs and attitudes about these drugs are going in the wrong direction.  The decreases of perception of harm around marijuana and inhalants are especially concerning, as that often leads to an increase in use.  

“The San Juan Island Prevention Coalition plays a critical role in addressing drug abuse in San Juan Island, Washington and in implementing strategies to change attitudes and availability. But we need to increase our investment in substance abuse prevention in order to make a dent in these problems.  More young people need to get the message that these drugs are harmful if we are to reverse these trends, but our coalition can’t do it alone. We need the help of everyone in the community” said Brad Fincher, Chair of the San Juan Prevention Coalition.

More information on the National 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey is available at www.monitoringthefuture.org. The San Juan County and Washington State Healthy Youth Survey is available at http://www.doh.wa.gov/healthyyouth/reports/default.htm.

 Locally we need the continued support of the community to help decrease use among our youth. The 2008 Healthy Youth Survey showed a significant increase in marijuana use in the past 30 days from 3% in sixth grade, up to 32% in twelfth grade. These numbers indicate higher use for local youth compared to state and national use. Use of pain killers, such as Vicodin and or OxyContin to get high in the past 30 days among tenth graders was 17% according to the 2008 Healthy Youth Survey, almost double the state average. For further questions, inquiries, or to become involved, call the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition at 378-9683 or email at prevention@centurytel.net.

San Juan Island Prevention Coalition