Did you know that if your teenager starts drinking or using drugs during high school, there is an increasingly high chance they will abuse substances as adults?
The NW Drug Coalition for a Drug-Free Community formed last fall out of Ballard High School — and now engages McClure, Whitman, Salmon Bay middle schools and others that feed into it — to help kids from developing drug and alcohol habits.
Julie Campbell, former parent of a Ballard High School student, started the program a couple years ago. “With the PTA, I decided to do this since Ballard lost its substance-abuse program and marijuana was becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” she explained.
Persistent awareness
Lisa Sharp, supervisor at Seattle Public Schools’ (SPS) health network program, mentored Campbell’s program based off a similar program, the NE Drug Coalition that serves Ingraham High School.
“We divided ourselves into three groups,” Campbell said. “The first was a parenting group that met every couple of months to put on parent education meetings, have speakers, send out postcards and e-mails about how to talk to your kids to keep them safe and provide tips on asking kids where they are going.”
It was the first group formed by the coalition.
The seminars featured guests such as an expert from the University of Washington’s department that researches youth addiction.
However, rule enforcement is a big piece of the program.
“The second group was to promote zero-tolerance by having security at Ballard and in the entire school district for kids [who] are caught smoking and drinking. That group makes it real clear to kids that they can’t do whatever they want — it lays down the rules,” Campbell said. “Members of that coalition had a Seattle Police force member, the head of security and the vice principal. We meet with them on a regular basis.”
The third group, for students, is called the Active Drug Alcohol Prevention Team (ADAPT), which has eight to 10 members.
“Kids are often given messages about why they shouldn’t use drugs, but we wanted to have kids tell kids to not use drugs,” said Chelsea Clark, of Swedish Medical Center/Ballard Teen Health Center, who works out of Ballard High School.
ADAPT’s goal is to spread awareness peer-to-peer.
“We bought a ‘Wheel of Misfortune’ to learn something about drugs and how they affect people. We also brought in three sets of beer bottles to show [though an activity] how impaired drunk people are,” Clark said.
Students put up posters that say things such as “I don’t smoke because I want to be a good role model to my little brother.” Or “I don’t drink because I want to go to college.”
“It’s a powerful message when it comes from peers,” she said.
ADAPT is also a social group, as well.
“We put on one activity night: a movie night, which was an alternative to partying on Friday,” Clark said. “We provided pizza and food and plan to do it monthly.”
While the student members are tenacious about spreading awareness to their peers, they are also described as “high-functioning” and most likely were not into alcohol or drugs themselves.
“I don’t know the kids’ history,” Clark said. “But they are mostly kids who are doing well and don’t have issues. We would like to expand it and would like to work more on recruitment.”
But, overall, a student-led effort is more effective than an adult preaching alone.
“A social-norms campaign can be really powerful. Instead of saying why alcohol is not a good way to go, this is much more positive,” Clark said.
Coalition expansion
Campbell hopes she can get more funding for the coalition.
“We don’t have a penny — it’s all volunteer work. I’m hoping we can get a writer to write us a grant,” she said.
But, overall, the coalition is running as planned.
“The idea of the coalition was to get others from the community — businesses, police, media and religious members — help do this work of reducing drug and alcohol use for kids,” Campbell said.
However, contrary to popular opinion, fewer teenagers use alcohol and drugs than most teenagers think.
“Students think that everyone drinks, everyone has sex, but it’s not true. We’re trying to change that perception,” Campbell said. “That way, they are more empowered to make decisions for themselves.”
But while alcohol and drug use may be lower than some students think, it’s not anything to sneeze at.
Campbell said a survey was released from SPS that tracks trends for teen drug and alcohol use, which was used to inform the coalition on where to best put their efforts.
“The survey said marijuana use is going up, but kids have the perception of marijuana use that risk is going down. Ever since it was legalized last fall, they think marijuana use is OK. As the perception of risk falls, risk goes up,” she said.
Hence, the need for broader expansion. The three middle schools that feed into Ballard High School — McClure, Whitman and Salmon Bay — have marijuana problems themselves. ADAPT makes trips to middle schools to inform those students about the coalition at Ballard High School.
“What we really want to do is get into those middle schools and get the message going there,” Campbell said. “That’s what we are starting to go into.”
Family influences
Families should set family rules about drug and alcohol abuse, according to Prevention Works in Seattle (WINS), which aims to prevent underage drinking and substance abuse. Parents should talk to kids as early as sixth grade, explaining how using drugs and alcohol can lead to poor choices. Parents should listen to kids’ concerns but stay firm in rules about drugs and alcohol.
Parents should also set consequences and follow through on them. Consequences can include no electronic devices for a certain amount of time, no car use and extra chores. Rewards can also be established, such as tickets to a game, time to do something fun together or inviting friends to watch movies.
Other things that are helpful include eating at least one meal together most days of the week.
Parents should know whom their children hang out with and introduce themselves to the friends’ parents.
Also, medication and alcohol in the home should be safely stored and monitored.
But while parents can have the most influence on the choices their teenage children make, the most effective way to prevent underage drinking and youth substance use is for the whole community to be involved. Schools, law enforcement, health-care organizations, youth-serving organizations, religious organizations, businesses, the media and youths themselves are some of the community members that have roles to play, according to Prevention WINS.
For more information, visit the Prevention WINS website at preventionworksinseattle.org. To comment on this story, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
