More than 2,500 students, 1,000 parents and 250 school personnel in grades 4-12 were recently surveyed to learn the extent of drug and alcohol use and violence in the village. PRIDE, Inc., a national drug prevention organization, developed the questionnaire used in the survey.

Results reveal that a small percentage of students have experimented with cocaine and heroin, cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol remain Úquot;very easyÚquot; to get, students feel the safest while at school, and perhaps most importantly, alcohol is the drug of choice among students and they're consuming it at an alarming rate.

Cynthia Knowles, a nationally recognized expert in substance abuse prevention, reviewed the survey's findings with more than 150 concerned residents during a presentation last Tuesday evening at the high school.

With regard to alcohol use, which is primarily being used with friends on the weekends and not before or during school hours, 88 percent of seniors, 75 percent of juniors, 73 percent of sophomores and 52 percent of freshmen are consuming it, considerably higher rates when compared to national levels.

Úquot;These are the scariest numbers we've ever seen,Úquot; Knowles, a parent herself, said. Úquot;This community is a time bomb.Úquot; She applauded the village, however, for its willingness to share these distressing results with the community.

Úquot;There are many school districts that collect this kind of data and simply don't care what the results look like. They don't do what Garden City is doing tonight, which is presenting the information to the public so that this can become a community solution. This is the biggest strength I see here tonight.Úquot;

Knowles added that most students are doing just fine and that a majority are not involved with inhalants, they've never tried hallucinogens and they've never gotten seriously involved with cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy, steroids or oxycontin.

Moreover, most students don't belong to gangs, say their parents set rules Úquot;oftenÚquot; and attend church or synagogue. Survey results also reveal that there's been very effective tobacco prevention education at the elementary level, with zero percent of fourth-graders, 2.4 percent of fifth-graders and zero percent of sixth-graders reporting smoking cigarettes within the last year. Úquot;School is probably the most drug-free place in the community,Úquot; she said.

Lori Kuster, a social worker at Garden City High School who moderated the question and answer period with a panel of distinguished guests, said, Úquot;This is a dream come true. We've been looking to talk about this in a comprehensive manner for a very long time. We may not come up with all the answers but this certainly is a beginning.Úquot;

The panel included Garden City Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo, Garden City Detective/Sergeant James Bartkowski, Eileen Wolfe, a clinical director of the Long Island Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Wayne O'Connell, a certified substance abuse counselor and current administrator with Daytop Village, Inc., a treatment program in Huntington, Evelyn Justino, a member of Daytop, Inc's Parents Educating Parents Program, Robert Sobotker, a certified social worker at Winthrop University Hospital who works in the Substance Abuse Treatment Education and Prevention Service Department, Peter Osroff, Garden City Middle School principal, John Okulski, Garden City High School principal, Noreen Bonagura, a social worker at the middle school who has worked in the field of social work for over 30 years, and Anna, a Garden City High School graduate who now speaks on drug addiction and alcohol abuse.

Claudia Ragne, a certified alcoholism and substance abuse counselor and prevention specialist who works as a director of the Kenneth Peters Center for Recovery in Syosset, also spoke. Ragne was raised in Garden City and graduated in 1970.

Anna, who's been in recovery for the past nine years, said she first picked up a drink at age 13 or 14. Úquot;These results are staggering and something terrible is going to happen. Know where your kids are and if they're driving, greet them when they come home.Úquot;

Knowles said teaching kids that drinking is acceptable as long as they don't drink and drive is a terrible message. O'Connell, who's worked in the field of adolescent and adult substance abuse for over 20 years, said, Úquot;The 'rite of passage' reasoning is a flat-out parental denial. These numbers should be a wake-up call.Úquot;

Garden City Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo said it's not so much a feeling of denial but rather a feeling of acceptable behavior on behalf of parents. Based on majority responses, 31 percent of parents consider wine coolers to be harmless, along with 32 percent of parents and 48 percent of parents feeling the same way about beer and liquor respectively.

Úquot;When my kids were 13 and 14 years old, I knew where they were,Úquot; he said. Cipullo added that underage residents are consuming alcohol in several different places, including the golf courses and the railroad station near the library. Úquot;These kids will find a place to drink - it doesn't have to be in a car or a home,Úquot; he said.

An audience member asked what consequences parents who leave their kids in the home to drink face in Garden City. Cipullo said most often parents Úquot;forgetÚquot; to bring their kids with them when they leave for vacation. Úquot;We can and do enforce village ordinances,Úquot; he said. He also noted that the department has a Úquot;Voluntary Consent to Enter A Private Residence Youth ComplaintÚquot; program in which parents give police officers written consent to enter their residence and (1) escort any unauthorized persons from the premises, (2) confiscate any alcoholic beverages in plain view that are being consumed by said unauthorized persons and (3) confiscate any contraband, such as drugs or firearms, observed in plain view, pending further investigation.

Úquot;Police officers have had to respond to very few residences that have parents who signed this agreement because most of the time the kids are aware of it,Úquot; he said. Parents interested in learning more about these consent forms can call 742-9600 and make an appointment with Youth Officer Rich Pedone.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Leitman noted the goal of last Tuesday's meeting was to have the entire community come together to deal with a problem that is Úquot;not only Garden City'sÚquot; but society's problem as well. Úquot;Only with this partnership of parents, community members, clergy and the district and everybody working together through good communication and good dialogue will this problem be solved,Úquot; he said. Úquot;I hope this evening is meaningful and it's the beginning of many, many meetings and many activities that will hopefully be productive for all of us in the village.Úquot;

Village Administrator Robert Schoelle, who attended on behalf of Mayor Robert Lewis and the board of trustees, added, Úquot;As you all know, the Village of Garden City and the school district partner in many activities and I think quite successfully. We're looking forward to this challenge and I know we're going to get some very positive results.Úquot;

The newly formed Garden City Community Council on Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, which went into effect immediately following the meeting, is one of several steps the district is taking to begin coordinating school-community prevention efforts. Several other meetings have been scheduled for the future, including Úquot;Raising Your Confidence as a ParentÚquot; with Dr. Robert Ackerman on March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium and Úquot;Student and Parent Liability Re: Underage DrinkingÚquot; with Carol Hoffman on May 7 at 7:30 p.m., also in the high school auditorium.

The PRIDE questionnaire has undergone 10 years of development and provides valid and reliable data for monitoring adolescent drug and alcohol use. Further, this instrument has Úquot;lie-scalesÚquot; built in to ensure accuracy. Surveys that are incomplete or that have inconsistent answering patterns are also eliminated from the final tally. To review these survey results more closely, please log onto www.gcufsd.net.

Students Grades 9-12

Úquot;Students Who Report Drinking Beer Within the Past YearÚquot;

Grade		Garden City		National
2002			2002
4	2.6%	5.0%
5	6.4%	4.9%
6	6.0%	11.0%
7	16.1%	20..9%
8	25..9%	31..3%
9	51.5%	41.0%
10	73.6%	51.2%
11	75.3%	54.2%
12	88.1%	57.6%

Profile of a Garden City Substance User

Who: Older students - grades 10, 11, 12

What: Beer (88.1%)

Cigarettes (56.9%)

Marijuana (50.0%)

Where: Most often students are using at the home of a friend.

When: Weekends show the highest use rates.

How: Through underage purchase, supplied by an adult, theft.

Why: Risk factors for alcohol use include low perceived harm, availability, friends who use and parents who use.