Two local high schools are taking a new approach to tackling teen drug and alcohol abuse this year.
In collaboration with the Council for Drug Free Youth (CDFY), Jefferson City Public Schools and Helias Catholic High School have initiated an early intervention program for their students who are using drugs and/or alcohol.
The point of the program, CDFY Executive Director Joy Sweeney said, is to catch students using before it becomes a dangerous habit.
"We know kiddos are going to make mistakes. Let's try and help them recover from those mistakes before it's too late," Sweeney said.
The six-week, after-school program brings together students and their parents to learn about not only the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but also the factors that lead people to use substances. The sessions - two hours once a week - also explore mental health topics such as decision making, communication, common sources of daily stress, the definition of cool, anger and fear, and emotions and intellect.
CDFY is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing substance abuse and promoting education. It is paying for the program at $300 per session for the first year through a grant. Eighth-grade students to high school seniors are eligible to attend the sessions, led by a counselor from The Crossroads Program in Columbia. Sweeney added schools have requested parents donate $20 per session to maintain the program's sustainability, but it is free for all.
"We don't want to present any barrier for those who are interested," Sweeney said.
JCPS students can enter the program after being caught drunk or high at school or with drugs or alcohol on campus. Students have the option of going through a 10-day out-of-school suspension and the Second Chances program, or a 45-day out-of-school suspension in which homebound services are offered, said Tammy Ridgeway, JCPS assistant superintendent.
"Our hope is that they'll opt for the Second Chances program because we want to break whatever alcohol or drug habit or temptation that has led them to this spot," she said.
Helias students are randomly drug tested, said the Rev. Stephen Jones. Students from each grade level, 20 in total, are tested by hair picking every other week. The results of their tests are conditional for continued enrollment at the high school, Jones said, and a second positive test is cause for dismissal.
Before the situation gets to that point, Jones said the school wants to be part of a solution.
"We certainly want to try intervention first before doing anything punitive," he said.
Ridgeway shared that same sentiment.
The most common drug of choice for both schools is marijuana. The drug can be addictive, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and about one in six who start using marijuana as teenagers become addicted as well as 25 to 50 percent of those who use it daily.
The News Tribune made a request under Missouri Sunshine Law for Jefferson City Police Department drug and alcohol-related arrests records of those 18 and younger since Jan. 1, 2014. Police have made 25 possession of marijuana (under 35 grams) arrests, which qualifies as a Class A misdemeanor and carries a possible sentence of a year or less of imprisonment.
Marijuana use during adolescent development can cause changes to the brain that make other drugs more appealing, the NIDA said. The exposure to harder drugs increases for marijuana users because they are also likely to come into contact with users and sellers of those substances.
"Marijuana is our main issue," Ridgeway said, "which is why we worked to develop the program with CDFY because we want to help our students and families have an intervention to break that cycle before it becomes more serious."
Since 2010, Jefferson City High School and the Simonsen Ninth Grade Center have seen 199 drug discipline incidents and 17 alcohol discipline incidents. Of the drug incidents, 11 students were repeat offenders.
At Helias, there have been 11 positive drug tests and three alcohol-related incidents (happening during the school day) in the past five years. Jones said two students were repeat offenders and dismissed from Helias. Prior the implementation of the new program, Helias would require students who tested positive to see a licensed counselor for a mental health evaluation, which were set up by their parents.
Sweeney said the program is not treatment, but counselors can recommend treatment or rehabilitation services to parents if a students' usage is more severe. Parent involvement is a key aspect of the program, Ridgeway said.
"From a school's standpoint, it helps the students see, and the parents see, that we're working together to help them be productive in society and be clean, and that opens up some communication between the parent and child that they hadn't had in the past," she said.
Two students have graduated from the program so far this year, Sweeney said, and five are currently participating. Upon completion of the program, both parent and child fill out a feedback survey. Both students who've graduated stated in their surveys that the drugs and alcohol session was their favorite, Sweeney said, with one student noting that the speaker was "open and honest."
Of the parents and students who've finished the program, communication was a take away. Sweeney said one student noted the program taught how to have conversations with parents on hard topics.