Survey: Most NS teens drink before their 15th birthday

North Stonington - Nearly 68 percent of North Stonington youth reported having their first alcoholic beverage before the age of 15, according to a recent survey of the town's youth.

About 25 parents and school administrators attended a community meeting Wednesday night to discuss the Southeastern Regional Action Council's (SERAC) 2009 Youth Survey on Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Use, which yielded some cause for concern, but also some positive results.

North Stonington youth in grades 7-12 were surveyed last April regarding their use of substances such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs, their health and activities and their perceptions about themselves and the community in which they live.

Melissa Rockwell, who has a 12-year-old son in seventh grade, voiced her concerns about the survey results.

"We try to be open in our home and discuss moderation and appropriate uses of things like medical prescriptions and drinks of wine with dinner," Rockwell said.

Even though the percentages of youth experimenting with alcohol are fairly high for the small community, the percentage of youth who have never experimented with illicit drugs was one of the survey's more positive results.

According to the survey, 80 percent of North Stonington youth reported never having smoked marijuana, and the reported substance abuse rates in the town tend to be at or below the national average for most substances.

The rates of smokeless tobacco use among eleventh and twelfth graders, however, is two to three times the national average for twelfth graders.

According to Michele Devine, executive director of SERAC, North Stonington is "for the most part, in line with the national averages and trends among youth."

The meeting's other main focus was to draw attention to PHIT (Positive Health In Teens), a group consisting of parents, school board members and town council members who now have the task of putting together an initiative to help deal with the survey results.

The group, which has only met five times, is relatively new and still looking for members of the community to help with ideas on how to turn some of the negative survey findings around, as well as raising awareness throughout the student body.

Amy Kimball, a stay-at-home parent of daughter Kathryn, 13, and Bryan 11, joined PHIT because she was admittedly "naive" about the current situation in the schools.

"We're heading in the right direction, we're never going to get completely rid of drugs, but we're here to make the situation better in some way, shape or form," said Kimball, adding that "our school system is all we have."

Associate Principal Christopher Sandford is calling on the community at large to help fight against such behaviors.

"Most students do not use drugs during school, most uses happen after school or on the weekends. We only have the kids for so many hours a day, we need the help of our community members," he said.