Survey: Drug use by county youth above state averages
48,000 students questioned, including 820 from Yuma County
The results of the 2014 Arizona Youth Survey showed higher percentages of drug use in Yuma County in a number of areas when compared to the state.
Conducted every other year by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, the survey about drug use and other behaviors goes out to eighth-grade students as well as sophomores and seniors in high school. Last year the ACJC surveyed over 48,000 students statewide, and 820 of those students were from Yuma County schools.
According to the results, marijuana use among sophomores and seniors is higher than the state average. A total of 36.5 percent of sophomores and 51.5 percent of seniors report using marijuana in their lifetime. At the eighth-grade level, that number is at 13.9 percent, which is only one percentage point lower than the state use average.
Prescription drug use, which combines results of prescription stimulant, sedative and pain reliever use, is also higher than the state average. A total of 11.4 percent of eighth-graders, 17.3 percent of sophomores, and 20.9 percent of seniors report having used prescription drugs at least once or more.
As prescription drugs could potentially be the easiest types of drugs for students to access, Thalia Williams, program director for DrugFreeAZKids.org, said that it’s important for parents to make sure prescription drugs in the home are either locked up or disposed of when they are no longer needed.
Alcohol use by sophomores and seniors in Yuma is lower than the state average. A total of 50 percent of sophomores and 65.7 per-
cent of seniors report using alcohol in their lifetime.
Williams speculated that the reasoning for this reduction could have to do with the increase in education and prevention efforts taking place over the last nine years nationwide.
At the eighth-grade level though, students reported a higher prevalence of alcohol use. A total of 36.4 percent of eighth-graders reported drinking at least once or more, nearly 5 percent above the state average.
When combining all three grade levels that were surveyed, the amount of students who reported having used methamphetamine was nearly three times higher than the state. A total of about 2.6 percent of students report having used meth in Yuma, while only about 0.97 percent report having used the drug statewide.
Williams explained that while many factors could play into this statistic, the proximity of Yuma to Mexico is one reason that stands out in her mind. She speculated that the proximity to the border where meth trafficking is becoming more prominent has created an increase in the availability of the drug for students.
“It goes to show how much of an issue meth is,” she said.
“We have to continue education in it, because it doesn’t just go away.”
She also said that the numbers for ecstasy use among sophomores and seniors were almost two times as high for Yuma than they were at the state level. A total of 7.7 percent of sophomores report having used ecstasy while 13.4 percent of seniors report having used the drug.
The rate of sophomores and seniors who have used synthetic drugs, such as bath salts, was three percentage points higher than the state level on average. A total of 9.3 percent of the two grade levels report having tried synthetic drugs once or more in their lifetime.
Students who report having used cocaine once or more in their lifetime was higher than the state at almost 6 percent.
Over-the-counter drug use was about five percentage points more than the state average for sophomores and seniors. Williams said that she hopes a recent statewide ban from buying cough medicine that contains Dextromethorphan, or DXM (sometimes overused to create a “high”), if you’re under the age of 18 will help decrease that percentage.
“It’s just important to educate on drugs as a whole, because the average age of first-time drug use in Arizona is still 13 years old,” said Williams. “It really is never too young to start talking to your kids about drugs. When they start getting older you do need to start talking about drugs, because if you don’t, someone else will, and that person could be someone offering it to them.”
In Yuma County, when asked the question of how many times the students had talked to their parents about strategies to avoid or resist people or places where they might be offered alcohol, prescription drugs, or other drugs in the past year — 6.5 percent of students answered “more than 10 times,” compared to 5.1 percent of students at the state level.
“We have made so much progress in driving down youth drug use in the past decade, because of our commitment to delivering research-based prevention education and expanding our community partnerships,” said DrugFreeAZKids.org CEO Leslie Bloom. “Still, any substance use by our children is unacceptable. With more than onethird of students reporting substance use in the past 30 days, we are reminded that we must all continue to be vigilant in our prevention and education work with parents, families, healthcare professionals and communities.”
In addition to being asked about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, students were also surveyed about questions regarding topics such as physical abuse, school safety and bullying, and gambling.
To view survey statistics specific to Yuma, visit www.azcjc.gov/acjc.web/sac/AYS.aspx and click on Yuma’s 2014 County Profile Report.
DrugFreeAZKids.org is a nonprofit organization that has a number of resources for parents to utilize when looking to learn more about the topic of teenage drug trends or for information about nearby treatment centers by ZIP code.