Teen Smoking, Drinking Rates Drop

AP/ Toby Talbot

Health Commissioner Harry Chen says a new survey finds that alcohol and tobacco use has decreased among Vermont students.

(Host) There's some good news about how much young Vermonters smoke and drink. According to a new report, smoking and drinking rates have dropped by more than 10 percent.

And as VPR's Bob Kinzel reports, a program that's been implemented by some high school students seems to be having a positive impact.

(Kinzel) A small group of students at Twin Valley High School in Wilmington decided to launch an alcohol education program because they found that most students had an inaccurate perception of alcohol use by their peers.

Connor Hunt is a senior at Twin Valley.

He says most students believed that roughly 70 percent of the high school students drank on a regular basis. But Hunt says the reality is that two-thirds of the students don't drink at all.

So a small group of students started a program known as "Audacious" as a way to promote the two-thirds statistic. Many students wore "Audacious" T-shirts. And stickers emblazoned with "two out of three" appeared everywhere around the school.

(Hunt) "So people were embracing the idea of this new radical campaign. And the big thing was none of the adults were involved. You didn't see any adults were wearing the "Audacious" logo. We did that for a reason. Mainly because no one wants to hear adults telling them what to do. They want to hear it from a peer."

(Kinzel) Jordan LaBont is a junior at Twin Valley. She says the "Audacious" program used some unusual promotional techniques.

(LaBont) "We hid a bunch of chocolates throughout our school with a little paper that said ‘two out of three.' And we just put them everywhere. And kids would find them in the weirdest places. But it kind of showed them, reminded them again."

(Kinzel) Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen says the new survey results are important.

(Chen) "We know that patterns established early in life matter. That the first decision that a student makes to smoke, to drink or to use drugs can cause irreparable harm. Addictions become life long bad habits."

(Kinzel) Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca was encouraged that they survey also showed some increases in several positive trends.

(Vilaseca) "All the areas that we want decline, they're declining. And the areas that we want to increase, participation in volunteer work, feeling valued by the communities, are on the uptake. So this, I think, provides us a positive snapshot of the students in our state and really the future of our state."

(Kinzel) Despite the good news, the survey found that there was no change in marijuana use by high school students. Health Commissioner Chen says programs that have been successful in reducing alcohol and tobacco use now need to focus on marijuana use.

For VPR News, I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.