Blog Report

Friday, December 19, 2008

Inhalant Use Increase in Maine

In his blog, Larry T. Doughty refers to inhalant abuse data from Brewster, Maine:

68% of the middle and high school students in Brewer County participated in the survey which was “conducted by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Substance Abuse under the state’s Bureau of Health and Human Services.”

The article highlights that across all categories, use has declined with one exception –inhalant use. 11% of Brewer students say they have tried inhalants- compared to the state’s average of 10.8%.

The article continues, “for Brewer, inhalant use by sixth- and eighth-graders far exceeded the state averages, while use by all other grades fell well below their statewide counterparts.”

There is also an interesting point in the comments section of the blog. One student writes, “Perhaps reading Myspace and Facebook pages would provide school administrators with a more accurate representation of substance use amongst its students. Low numbers are great, but I don't believe they are completely accurate. I remember taking this survey. We all joked about how we "lied" on it. Don't rely soley on this survey is all I'm saying...”

Your thoughts on this?

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