IU study finds students smoking less

A survey by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at IU found that Indiana adolescents are smoking less and using fewer drugs than in past years. \nThis year's survey of 140,000 Indiana adolescents in grades 6-12 reports a decrease in tobacco usage since last year, continuing the current downward trend of tobacco usage. The exception to this finding was an increase in tobacco usage among sixth grade students. \n"Most experimentation with drugs occurs in younger children during the unsupervised areas of the afternoon when parents are not home and students have nowhere else to go," said Kris Darlage of the South Central Indiana Prevention Services Coalition. "It is during this unsupervised time when students are pressured to try these drugs."\nThe Prevention Resource Center serves the community by creating programs which inform, educate, consult and provide any other necessary resources to promote drug prevention.\nMark Pogue, the IPRC deputy director who conducted the study, said the rise in sixth grade drug use could be caused by many factors.\n"It could just be that this grouping (of sixth graders) has a higher drug usage rate," he said. "It also could be that they are exposed earlier. Before the age of 13 most teens are already exposed to tobacco because of the time alone they have from their school bell to mom and dad's factory bell."\nThe reported number of Indiana students that have tried cigarettes was the lowest it had ever been. Tobacco usage by Indiana students is of major concern because cigarettes are described as the "gateway drug" -- one that opens the door to other drug usage.\n"Seeing tobacco use rates fall below national rate for the first time is probably an indicator of the success of Indiana statewide and local anti-tobacco, as well as after-school prevention programs," Pogue said. "We have to focus on tobacco. Adolescent smokers are 10 to 80 times more likely to use other drugs than those who do not smoke."\nThe survey reported a great decrease in alcohol use this year, although there wasn't a dramatic change among those who drink alcohol daily. Only in its second year of study, the use of club drugs such as Ecstasy and Rohypnol seems to be on a general decline as well. No grade experienced an increase in marijuana usage since last year, and most other drugs such as crack, heroin, cocaine and steroids remained unchanged in overall usage. The use of inhalants decreased among sixth graders but found a slight increase in eighth grade usage since last year.\n"There can be many ways to continue to decrease these numbers," said Dee Owens, director of IU's Alcohol and Drug Information Center. "The policies including keg registration and increasing alcohol tax all help to decrease the number of people engaging in these activities."\nAll 92 counties in Indiana are hosts to drug prevention and after-school programs to help target and educate the state's adolescents. \nAlthough the study only samples part of the state and is not a direct representation of the state as a whole, the conductors of the study said they believe the results reflect the rest of the state comparatively. \n"We are hoping that the decreases in alcohol and other drug usages are attributed to the programs that we are creating and putting into effect," Pogue said. "We are finally starting to see a payoff in the numbers with some substances on the decline and others holding steady. Holding steady is only a precursor for decline."\n-- Contact staff writer Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.