DUDE, LET’S GET WA … WATER

Why get wasted when you can drink a nice, cold bottle of water? That seems to be the mentality among youth these days. They’re not passing around cans of beer; they’re passing up beer altogether, as well as other harmful substances.

In 2006, Lake County ranked sixth among Florida’s 67 counties in the number of underage drinkers. Today, the county ranks 46th, according to the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS), a collaborative effort between several Florida governmental departments and the Office of Drug Control.

In Lake County, the survey used a sample of 1,233 middle and high school students to obtain a statistically representative county-level estimate. The margin of error was less than 1 percent.

The survey is specific in its breakdown of harmful substances used by kids: alcohol, marijuana, hashish, overthe-counter drugs, inhalants, cigarettes, prescription pain relievers, prescription depressants, LSD, PCP, mushrooms, prescription amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, club drugs, heroin and steroids.

The FYSAS also showed other encouraging trends for Lake County. Thirty-day alcohol use has decreased by 13 percent among middle school students and 19.8 percent among high school students between 2000 and 2014. During the same time period, 30-day use of cigarette smoking decreased 6.6 percent among middle school students and 11.1 percent among high school students.

Here’s another interesting tidbit: in Lake County, 30-day marijuana use decreased from 14.6 percent in 2012 to 13 percent in 2014. By contrast, the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed a significant rise in youth marijuana use. Drug policy experts feel the increase can be attributed to nationwide marijuana legalization efforts.

Much of Lake County’s success story can be attributed to the efforts of Be Free Lake, a community coalition that focuses on preventing substance abuse and violence among the county’s youth. Based in Howey-in-the-Hills, Be Free Lake promotes evidence-based programs and campaigns such as “Friday Night Done Right” and “Know the Law” to encourage kids to shy away from drugs and alcohol.