With Berkeley (Calif.) High School students getting drunk and high at twice the national rate, a task force has outlined possible solutions, though some students doubt the community’s drug culture can be changed.
According to the report, presented to the Berkeley Unified School District on June 23, students in the district consume alcohol and use marijuana at twice the state and national rates. Additionally, the district reported twice as many incidents of students intoxicated on campus.
The report, delivered by the Joint Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Task Force – a panel of district educators and city officials – set out to verify the results of the 2008 California Healthy Kids Survey, which first reported the students’ high rates of drug use. The report also outlines possible policy changes to mitigate students’ consumption rates.
Despite the report, Berkeley High students are skeptical about whether it is possible to change the community’s drug culture, and some members of the task force are unsure if the district will be able to execute the plan as devised.
The report listed seven recommendations to combat drug use and prioritized three: expanding drug prevention units into middle schools, training teachers to recognize drug use and reducing truancy – shown to have a direct correlation to drug use.
Though middle school science classes use a substance abuse prevention program shown to be effective in delaying marijuana use, they are not being held accountable for using it, the report said.
In the high school, the main drug education comes from freshman and sophomore teachers and youth educators. The report advocates implementing two statistics-backed programs in Berkeley K-8 schools by Jan. 31, 2011, at a cost of $75,000 annually.
Yet, 2010 Berkeley High graduate Annie Gillies believes the current education program is sufficient.
“The approach is, ‘We know you are going to try it, so we are going to show you how to do it safely,'” Gillies said. “Encouraging students to use designated drivers, call parents for help and get drugs from a safe place is more helpful than discouraging (drugs) completely.”
The report also suggests holding a teacher training orientation by year’s end, followed by a second seminar by June 2011 as well as future training at an annual cost of $10,000.
Emma Lydon, who graduated in 2010, said the school’s large classes contribute to the drug use.
“The school is so big that it is hard for teachers to build personal relationships with individual students,” Lydon said. “Kids feel like they are in college already, and that promotes independence in good and bad ways.”
Even among teachers who do notice, however, many do not care, rising senior Hannah Lukanuski said.
“There is a feeling that (it’s fine) as long as you turn in your work,” she said.
The task force also recommended developing a program to combat truancy, which includes improving data collection to identify potential truants earlier and reconfiguring the disciplinary system to use interventions rather than suspensions and expulsions.
Though the report also includes a recommendation to close off popular lunch time drug use spots, students question its efficacy and doubt the administration can implement it.
“The school doesn’t have enough resources or organizational skills to keep track of every student, and the cafeteria area can’t support that many kids in a 45-minute period,” Lydon said.
Many Berkeley High students agree that imposing restrictions on their lunch time mobility would do little to reduce drug use.
“People will get high if they want to, regardless (of obstacles),” Gillies said.
The board has taken the report “under advisement,” said Berkeley High’s Student Welfare and Attendance Specialist, Merlin Edwards. However, he also said he fears the project is losing steam because he is on leave for the summer due to budget cuts and the former director of student services, Felton Owens, who served as the main contact from the high school, retired.
Many Berkeley High students said they feel that marijuana use is especially unlikely to be reduced by restrictions because it is ingrained into Berkeley culture, a fact acknowledged by the report, which said, “Berkeley has a reputation that is closely tied to active drug use and abuse.”
Some, however, believe the community’s drug culture can be positive.
“Berkeley kids don’t really use harder drugs that are problems elsewhere,” said Ben Lee, who graduated in 2010. “Some say we have a drug problem. I say we have the drug solution.”