SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Ten per cent of Yellowknife middle school students have witnessed a drug deal at school, according to a survey conducted by the Committee for the Prevention of Youth Substance Abuse in March of this year.

The survey, which gathered responses from 436 Yellowknife students in Grades 6 to 9, was conducted after a high school drug survey last year showed teenagers who did drugs were starting them at a much younger age.

Among last year's results: a majority of Grade 9 to 12 students had tried alcohol, just less than half had tried marijuana or cigarettes and four per cent had tried cocaine.

"Last year when the results came out, people should have been outraged at what they saw," said Johnnie Bowden, assistant superintendent of learning for Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

He said the goal of the committee is to raise awareness of youth substance abuse so the "powers that be" are empowered to do something about it.

The middle school survey, which was conducted online, asked the same questions as the high school survey and found that students are already starting to dabble in drugs by the age of 11.

The most common substances reported to have been used were caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana.

Nineteen per cent of students surveyed said they have drunk alcohol more than once, compared to eight per cent for marijuana and six per cent for tobacco.

Merrill Dean, student services co-ordinator for Yellowknife Catholic Schools, credits "Don't Be a Butthead" program for the low tobacco numbers.

When students were asked where they saw alcohol and tobacco, most of them said at home.

More than half of respondents said they saw alcohol at home and 40 per cent saw tobacco at home.

In comparison, seven per cent of middle school students surveyed said they saw marijuana at home.

With the exception of tobacco and alcohol, students reported much higher perceived rates of use by their friends than themselves.

Most students said their main source of information on drugs was from school, followed by their parents and other adults, and over 90 per cent of those students said they trusted the information they got.

In comparison, just 48 per cent of students said they trusted the information they received from movies and the Internet.

Many people who attended the meeting stressed the need for more educational programs like the RCMP's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) initiative, which is already in place at the schools, but students who responded to the survey listed other ways to prevent drug use.

At the top of their list was the need for more things to do in the community, followed by better role models, more youth treatment centres, more police and more counselling services.

"When are we going to follow the lead of our children?" Bowden asked.

He said it's time the community takes responsibility for the problem, which he said has led to six drug and alcohol related suicides in the past four years.

"How many young people do we have to lose before it becomes a problem? Parents have to step up to the plate and start talking to their kids," he said.

The committee has been meeting for three years and consists of volunteers from across the city.

It includes representatives from both school districts, as well as the GNWT, the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, the RCMP and the City of Yellowknife.

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