BN Parents is moving into their fifth year of partnership with the schools and community to get support messaging to parents. The data suggests parents are not only responding, they are making a difference preventing youth substance use.
Youth access to alcohol, marijuana, and some other substances have decreased along with the percent of students who used each substance. To give you a snapshot, in 2012, 45% of 10th grade students and 59% of 12th grade students said they would “never” be caught by parents if the youth went to a party where alcohol was served. Now, in 2016, the number has decreased to only 32% of 10th grade students and 46% of 12th grade students. And, use in the past 30 days has seen a marked decrease to go along with this. In 2012, 27% of 10th grade students and 46% of 12th grade students said they had alcoholic drinks. In 2016, those numbers decreased to 18% of sophomores (10th grade) and 34% of seniors (12th grade).
Also, the percent who said they’d had “five or more alcoholic drinks in a row” the past two weeks, binge drinking, decreased among 10th grade students from 14% in 2012 to 8% in 2016, and among 12th grade students from 30% in 2012 to 18% in 2016! The percent who said they had used marijuana in the past 30 days decreased among 10th graders from 17% in 2012 to 11% in 2016, and among seniors from 25% in 2012 to 18% in 2016.
These successes could not have happened without the support of strong community partners and active parents. Please applaud their efforts and visit www.BNParents.org and https://www.facebook.com/BNParents/ to learn more about the messaging everyone can share to further enhance these reductions.