Published: June 22, 2009 12:09 pm      

Report: first-time drug users getting younger

Ada — First-time drug users seem to be getting younger and younger, according to a local report.

According to the Oklahoma Prevention Needs Assessment Survey conducted at Ada Public Schools, about 0.9 percent of sixth-graders said they have used meth, speed, crack or crystal meth within the last month, compared to the state average of 0.2 percent. About 0.7 percent of eighth-graders said they used the drugs, compared to the state’s average of 0.5 percent.

“It’s an epidemic right now,” Vicki Orsburn, executive director of Ada Area Chemical Dependency Center said. “Ada is third in the state in meth. We have a serious methamphetamine problem in Ada.”

Methamphetamine is not the only drug plaguing the youth. Even though sixth-grade marijuana use is a modest 0.2 percent lower than the state average, eight-grade use is quite above the state average.

About 7.5 percent of eighth-graders attending Ada Junior High said they have used marijuana within the last month, compared to the 6.2 percent of eighth-graders across the state.

While many consider marijuana to be the “gateway” drug, some public officials are more concerned that another substance may lead to illicit drug use.

“Alcohol abuse starts early,” said Jeff Dismukes, public information director for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said. “We have a significant number of youth that drink.”

Ada is no different than the rest of the state. The percentage of sixth-graders in Oklahoma that drank more than “just a few sips” of alcohol in the past month stands at 8.4. In Ada, about 2.7 percent more sixth-graders have consumed alcohol, 11.1 percent.

The survey offered a new category this year that has proven to be a problem in the local community – prescription drugs.

“Overdosing on prescription drugs is the second leading cause of unnatural death in the area,” Pontotoc County District Attorney Chris Ross said.

The survey shows that 2.5 percent of sixth-graders across the state have used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes, compared to the 3.7 percent of Ada sixth-graders who have abused prescription drugs.

While the survey suggested cocaine use is virtually nonexistent among sixth-graders in the area, cocaine use within the last 30 days among local eighth-graders is double the state’s average, with 1.4 percent of Ada eighth-graders already using the drug and .7 percent of state-wide eighth-graders.

The survey showed that less students attending Ada High School are using illicit drugs compared to the state’s average. But if first-time drug users are getting younger, drug abuse may be more prominent in the future. To stop this from happening, public officials said education needs to start at younger ages, and the public should be aware of the problem in the community.

“The best thing is to just not ignore it and think that it happens in big cities and doesn’t happen in our town,” said Judge Martha Kilgore, who presides over several juvenile drug cases. “It does, and it happens every day.”