Teen Survey Reveals 5 Million Youth Attend Drug Infected Public Schools

Joseph A. Califano Jr., Founder and Chairman of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, will release the findings from CASA's 15th annual back-to-school report, National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents at a press conference in Washington, D.C. Aug. 19.

This year's survey reveals how the presence of gangs in schools relates to drugs in schools, increases the likelihood that a teen will smoke, drink or use drugs and have friends who engage in these behaviors, and gangs and drugs are likelier in public schools compared to private and religious schools. The report also takes a close look at the impact of family ties on a teen's risk of substance abuse, the importance of parents knowing a teen's friends, how teens get marijuana, and availability of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and prescription drugs to teens.

Two concurrent surveys were run in 2010: an Internet survey of 1,055 teens (540 boys, 515 girls) and 456 of their parents and a telephone survey of trend questions administered to 1,000 teens (511 boys, 489 girls). They reveal new information of critical importance to parents, teachers, school administrators, clergy, anyone who has responsibility for the behavior and well-being of our nation's youth, and federal, state, and local government.