Most high school movies would tell you that drinking and drugs are a part of high school life, but for the most part, the Madison community isn’t buying that idea. At an event sponsored by MADE in Madison on April 5, school and town officials came together with community members to discuss current drug and alcohol trends in town and future challenges.

The discussion came after the Hidden in Plain Sight interactive display set up at the town campus in Madison. The display features a typical teenager’s bedroom and visitors were invited to go through the display and see if they could find items that might just be typical bedroom items, or might be tools to hide substances. Close to 70 residents stopped by throughout the day to see if they could spot any of the items used for concealment.

At the evening roundtable, residents listened to survey data on current drug trends among youth and what the community is doing to combat substance abuse. Panelists included MADE Coalition Coordinator Catherine Barden, Madison Youth & Family Services Director Scott Cochran, First Selectman Tom Banisch, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Gail Dahling-Hench, and Madison Police Captain Joe Race.

The data comes from the Search Institute Survey conducted every two years in the fall when students return to school. The survey asks, among other things, if the individual has used alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana within the last 30 days.

Barden said the most recent numbers are from 2015 and look at usage among students grades 9 to 12. In 2015, 31 percent of students said they had used alcohol in the last 30 days, 21 percent said they had used marijuana, and five percent said they had used tobacco.

In most categories, Madison falls below the state average in terms of usage and Barden said certain categories, such as tobacco usage, have dramatically dropped off.

“A majority of our kids are making really good decisions,” she said. “That is something to be really proud of.”

However, while the results show a decrease in drug or alcohol use among freshmen and sophomores, rates spike as students enter their junior and senior year.

“A lot of that has to do with a link between stress and substance use and a lot of that has to do with coming of age and newfound freedom,” she said. “You think about juniors—that is right around the time they get their driver’s license.”

Dahling-Hench said the school district is doing its part to tackle the stress issue including taking a closer work at the homework policy, offering time management tools, allowing students to chose how they report their grade point average, and even bringing in therapy dogs.

Having a number of assets or resources such as school engagement and positive adult role models are key to holding down substance use rates according to Barden. One example is the school district partners with the Police Department to have a school resource officer (SRO) on campus. Race said the SRO program has been a great success.

“He [Officer Phil Rosati] has a knack for finding those students who could go either way ultimately,” he said. “He has brought some back and I have read the letters from parents to him talking about how so and so wouldn’t have gone where they went if it wasn’t for him so it has been such a great program.”

Race said there are also officers stationed at the elementary schools, which he said tends to be a lot more about high-fives, but also helps build a positive relationship between the public and police officers at a young age.

“I don’t want you to run away from me, I want you to run to me,” he said. “If you are lost I want to run to me, I want you to run to the uniform.”

Barden said the town, school, and community has been working well together to talk about drug and alcohol use and external factors such as stress and peer pressure. She said this collaboration is essential to combat challenges down the road.

The Marijuana Legalization Debate

With state officials have currently engaged in a debate over the possible legalization of non-medical marijuana, the possible effect of such legislation was a point of focus in the discussion.

While use rates of marijuana have stayed fairly steady, Barden said students’ perception of risk with marijuana use has declined over the years as the state voted to decriminalize marijuana and then legalize medical marijuana. Additionally, Barden said a lot of marijuana marketing is targeted at young people showing examples of cellphone cases with built in vaporizers and marijuana-laced edible products including soda and pop tarts.

“One of the concerns we have about that perception of harm decreasing is eventually we are going to see use increase,” said Barden. “It is something we have seen across the country—if kids don’t think marijuana is harmful, they use it.”

Race said the potential legalization would be the wrong move for the state.

“It is a horrible, horrible idea,” he said. “It is one of those things we have not thought out. We are talking about the same government that says cigarettes are a bad thing because you are putting smoke in your lungs, but weed is OK?”

Race said while legalization may be a reality at some point in time, right now there are just to many unknowns.

“The one thing we are forgetting is we know what the level of intoxication is with alcohol,” he said. “We know it is 0.08…We do not have a standard for marijuana and that is terrifying.”

The Opioid Crisis

While the use of opioids was not heavily featured in the survey data, Race said Madison has not been immune to the opioid crisis sweeping the country. According to arrest data, Race said the crisis isn’t hitting high school students, but it is an issue among recent graduates or those in the 18- to 24 age range.

How to combat the crisis in town has its own problem because Race said opioid abuse can often be hard to detect.

“When we do traffic stops marijuana is easy to find—anyone can smell it—but you start talking about some of these substances that come in these tiny little bundles and are so easy to conceal and it doesn’t take a whole lot to get high…so it is knowledge, it is information, its parents being involved,” he said.

The prevalence of or access to opioids is also feeding the problem. Race said right now heroin is as cheap, if not cheaper, than marijuana, but when substances are that cheap there is usually a reason.

“The problem with any drug is what starts out as a pure substance has been cut so many different ways,” he said. “The reason we are having so many overdoses isn’t necessarily because it’s heroin, it’s because there are so many things filtered through it including rat poison, lye—terrible things.”