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Today's Poll!Callaway youth tell survey of substance abuse problems
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Callaway County youth admit having higher alcohol use, binge drinking, prescription and over-the-counter drug use than their peers elsewhere in the state, according to new state figures.
The Missouri Department of Mental Health has released a behavioral health profile for Callaway County in 2012 using the most recent data from the 2010 Missouri Student Survey.
According to the report, 24.4 percent of Callaway youth in grades 6-12 reported alcohol use in the past 30 days — up from the state average of 19.8 percent. In the same age group, 13.3 percent in the same age group reported binge drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks on a single occasion, higher than the statewide 11.4 percent.
Another 7.2 percent said they had abused prescription drugs, while 5 percent had abused over-the-counter medicines, as opposed to 6.7 percent and 4.8 percent for the state respectively.
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Comments
mia 11 months, 2 weeks ago
And this is a surprise?? We see it all of the time. I find white rabbit packages in my yard here (synthetic pot). Thats all there is to do is drink and get high. That and harrass people. Oh and if the so called parents would stay out of the bars, it would help.
mia 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Oh yea and burn rubber. They LOVE their big trucks they can burn rubber in. Look on the streets of Holts Summit sometimes. Drink, drug and burn rubber. Ah, what a great life.
JCLifer 11 months, 2 weeks ago
No news here. Central Missouri's past time is getting stoned.
Join their parents at the church picnic for more beer or head out to the festival district and get bombed.
Nothing better to do than get wasted in this town. Everything is geared toward it.
TickledPink 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Why are so many of you so critical of the festival districts? I can assure you, not everyone going to these events is up there to get drunk. I was uptown Thursday night and I saw a lot of families out enjoying the music, eating food and carrying around sodas and bottles of water. Of course there were people with their "red solo cups" but the events aren't all about the drinking.
That said, drinking is an issue anywhere there are teenagers. I'm sure it's more prevalent in Callaway County because what IS there to do in Holts Summit, Fulton, Kingdom City, Tebbets ... ?
thatguyagain 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you for addressing the criticism of the festival districts. My wife and I took our 2 year old downtown last Thursday, had a little something to eat, she had one beer, I had two, and we bought some waters. Along with a couple thousand of our closest friends, we spent over two hours enjoying the music, atmosphere, and local shops. Obviously we were far from wasted but still very satisfied. We love that Jefferson City can have an entertainment enviornment that is neither too uptight for us to enjoy or too raucous for us to bring our little one. Many thanks to the people behind Thursday Night Live!
Sequoia 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Lifer's just cranky. I've never seen any problems with undue intoxication in the festival district. The concerts seem quite heavily policed, so there seems nothing to fear except goofy jean shorts and bad dancing.
JMO 11 months, 2 weeks ago
You are being incredibly unfair to parents. There are plenty of parents who do not drink to excess, who have a zero tolerance for their children drinking or doing drugs, and who have kids that do it anyway. Yes, I'm speaking from experience. We've been very involved parents. We recently caught ours with the "incense" that is sold in gas station convenience stores. We tried to spend time with and be involved in our child's life. He had rules. He had curfews. He had consequences when those rules or curfews were broken. We knew his friends and their parents. But you can't know everyone they spend time with. You can't know the friends of their friends. We had the drinking and drug talks, we took action whenever we could in his life. We have always set a good example. We may have a drink with a meal when we go out, but don't go out getting drunk. A six pack of beer or a bottle of wine lasts weeks, if not months, in our home. But apparently, even smart kids who have been raised with a good example and limits are stupid. Period. And even "good kids" think this stuff is okay because it's legal when in fact it is far more dangerous than pot.
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