Staff Writer

For parents who wonder what their teenagers are really up to, there is good news and bad news.

Marijuana use is skyrocketing between sixth and 12th grade.

One-third of Maine high school freshmen reported drinking alcohol.

One-quarter of juniors said they have illegally used prescription drugs.

But fewer high school seniors are drinking, smoking or using drugs.

“It’s important because it’s what our students are saying. These are their voices,” said Andi Locke, who oversees bullying and drug prevention programs for Auburn.

The Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use Survey, taken by students in grades six through 12, asks detailed questions about drinking and drug use, attitudes toward illegal substances and family life. Sixty-three percent of Maine students took the survey this year.

Lewiston and Auburn found their results troubling. Too many students said they were drinking, smoking and taking drugs.

In Auburn, more than 45 percent of seniors reported taking illegal drugs such as Ecstasy, OxyContin, heroin, cocaine and hallucinogens in the month before the survey.

In Lewiston, the number of smokers jumped from 29 percent in ninth grade to 42 percent in 10th grade, with nearly 11 percent saying they smoke regularly.

Statewide, results varied widely by region, town and grade.

For example, more than one-quarter of high school seniors said they used marijuana in the month before the survey. In Androscoggin County, that number was 3 percent lower and in Lewiston, 7 percent lower. In Auburn, it was almost 5 percent higher.

The data was released by the Maine Office of Substance Abuse this fall. State and school officials are still working to draw conclusions.

“It’s not real definitive,” said Locke. “You see something go up this year and down this year.”

In Auburn, the survey showed that binge drinking went up among juniors and down among sixth- and ninth-graders. One-quarter of teenage smokers started before age 14, but most drinkers didn’t start using alcohol until after age 14.

Twenty percent of Auburn ninth-graders said they illegally used prescription drugs, close to the state average but more than twice Lewiston’s rate.

Top concern

Locke said the results make drugs and alcohol a top concern for Auburn.

“We look at the trends,” she said. “The programs we have, are they working?”

Across the river, Lewiston also saw causes for concern.

Drinking by Lewiston seniors fell below the state average, but binge drinking by seventh-graders was above average and climbing. Smoking and marijuana use soared between ninth and 10th grades. Sixty-five percent of 10th-graders reported drinking alcohol, and more than one-quarter said they’d had 10 drinks or more in their lifetime.

Substance Abuse Coordinator Vicky Wiegman said her cursory look at the survey revealed “vague shapes of trends.” She noted the sharp increase in drug use from ninth to 10th grade.

“It seems to be a time when kids are getting into more substances,” she said. “I’m very curious to see what other detail we can see from that trend.”

In Lewiston, some substance abuse, such as binge drinking among seniors, fall below the state average. And while more than 45 percent of Auburn seniors reported using OxyContin, Ecstasy and other illegal drugs, less than 6 percent of Lewiston students reported the same.

Despite those statistics, Wiegman wasn’t happy with the results.

“I want to see zero, zero, zero, zero percent,” she said. “I would love to lose my job because they don’t need me.”

Attitudes troubling

Lewiston and Auburn officials will spend the coming months analyzing their data. Officials in both cities said they use the survey to help tailor their substance abuse programs.

The state will release its report on the survey in a few weeks. Some state officials found student attitudes as startling as their drug use.

Half of high school students thought it was “very easy” to get tobacco or marijuana. Nearly half of seniors thought their parents had favorable attitudes toward drugs.

Such results, some officials said, showed that family, peers and the community all influence student drug use.

Survey coordinator Melanie Lanctot said the state is encouraging schools to share their data with the community.

“We stress that any results are not to be used to blame the schools,” Lanctot said.