Curb youth drug use in Manatee County with Life Skills training in schools

Illicit drug use among Manatee County middle school students rose between 2010 and 2014 while alcohol consumption declined, but the most disturbing statistic is this: Illegal drug use without alcohol more than doubled among these students.

Just as troubling if not more so, drug education in district schools has proven deficient. Simply put, it isn't working, hard county data indicates -- even though district officials claim drug education has improved over the past five years.

The Youth Substance Abuse survey also found the percentages among high school students dropping in that time span in all categories except the use of illicit drugs without drinking alcohol. Still, some 37.5 percent of high school students admitted to illicit drug use. In middle schools, that figure stands at 20.5 percent.

The state bears a large part of the blame -- by eliminating a drug education program in 2009, thus abandoning districts and students and putting the burden on local authorities.

The survey, conducted statewide by the Florida Department of Children and Families and in Manatee County, validates the sense of urgency nationwide to implement stronger strategies to combat youth drug use. In January, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act to that end.

The act supplies funds for evidence-based prevention in schools and requires local educational agencies to spend 20 percent of grant money for drug and violence prevention.

Last month, Manatee schools Superintendent Diana Greene assured the Council of Governments the district is indeed bolstering drug prevention with several programs without more state funding, including a pilot program for middle school students through Centerstone Florida.

But the clinical manager of community programs at the mental health and substance abuse facility, located in Manatee County, told Herald reporter Kate Irby that the district's use of free drug education programs has dropped in some schools. Jane Roseboro also stated that several teachers and principals told her their schools lack the time for character-building classes -- even though Centerstone's free Life Skills course consumes but one hour a week for 10 weeks. Those educators cite government pressure on testing and academics.

Roseboro described Centerstone's difficulties: " ... it feels like we have to beg to get into schools. We never got into every school, but this year it was particularly bad."

That should not be the case.

This region is the epicenter of Florida's heroin epidemic with more than 150 overdose deaths in Manatee and Sarasota counties in 2015. In Manatee alone, 911 operators took 1,352 overdose calls last year.

There should be a great deal of pressure to provide character-building programs to boost self-esteem, resistance skills and drug education, among other aspects of a Life Skills class.

Credit the school district for working to rebound on drug education. The district applied for a three-year private grant worth some $75,000 to give all middle schools a Life Skills program beginning next school year. Teachers would be trained to assist students and to recognize the warning signs of drug use and problem behaviors.

Educators would be wise to embrace Life Skills to not only steer youth away from drugs but to watch them achieve greater academic success. Because of their younger age, middle school students especially need these skills.

Healthy youth in body, spirit and mind make better students.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Curb youth drug use in Manatee County with Life Skills training in schools ."