'More Students Use Drugs Than We Care To Estimate'

(Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles on the use of drugs in Ann Arbor's senior and junior high schools. About 20 studente were interviewed by The News on drug usage at their schools. Some ran with the drug crowd, some did not. All were promised anonymity.) Some junior high and high school students in Ann Arbor experiment with, or regularly use, drugs. The majority of the users smoke marijuana ('pot," "weed," "grass"). A much smaller number use LSD, amphetamines such as "speed," and hard narcotics such as heroin. Ann Arbor Pólice Chief Walter Krasny says in the past five years there has been a "definite increase" in the use of drugs by Ann Arbor teen-agers, an increase which has outdistanced the general upswing of crime locally. These facts are easily gathered by talking to parents, stud e n t s , principáis, teachers, counselors and the pólice. But the $64,000 question is much harder - impossible in fact - to answer accurately. How many secondary pupils are trying drugs? On the junior high level, it appears that a rather small percentage is experimenting with drugs. But at the seniorhigh 1 e v e 1, specifically the public senior highs in Ann Arbor, it's anybody's guess. Pioneer High students interviewed by The News estimated tiiat 30 to 60 per cent of their classmates have experimented with pot and 10 to 25 per cent are regular users. Hurón High pupils polled had even higher estimates - 60 to 75 per cent have tried marijuana, 30 per cent use it regularly. Students at both schools agreed that other harder drugs, such as LSD and heroin, are used very little. But these figures are nothing but guesses, for there is absolutely no foolproof way of estimating the number of young people involved in drug use today. Surveys, such as those taken last month at Grosse Pointe high school , depend solely on what the students wish to divulge. They may be accurate, they may not. The principáis polled recently at St. Thomas High and Greenhills School, as well as at Huron and Pioneer Highs and the four public junior highs, invariably answered that it is impossible to estímate the extent of drug use among students, because of the difficultyj in obtaining valid information. "Our drug problem is that we don't know what our students' drug problems are, if any," Forsythe Junior High Principal William R. Rude declared. Hurón High Principal Paul Meyers commented, however, that he believes "more students use drugs than we care to estímate. A good number of the parents are not aware of the drug traffic among teen-agers in this community." At Greenhills School, a private co-educational f a c i 1 i t y with about 105 students in grades 7 through 10, Headmaster Edward Read says he knows of no cases of drug usage at nis school. At. St. Thomas High School, Principal Leo Wagner says the extent of drug usage is "minimal." But experimentation with drugs - mainly marijuana - is not unknown at Ann Arbor's junior highs. Two students we re apprehended last semester at Slauson Junior High for possession or use of drugs. Slauson Principal Roland Lehker says his staff members are "convinced that a small core of students does experiment with drugs, and that a real problem exists or will soon exist for these students." Gene Maybee, principal at Tappan Junior High, says he is "reasonably sure there has been considerable experimentation with drugs by Tappan boys and girls. Marijuana is probably the most commonly used drug. On the other hand, we have been aware of isolated incidences where stronger drugs such as heroin and LSD have been used." Students interviewed by The News at all four junior highs agreed some of their classmates had or were experimenting with drugs, mainly marijuana. Most. said the percentage is relatively small, however. But Pioneer and Huron High Schools are a different story. Student estimates on marijuana usage already were quoted. All the students interviewed agreed, however, that the number using harder drugs, such as LSD or heroin, is small. "They get wise to what the harder drugs are doing to them and stop,'' one Pioneer sophomore said. Most students are afraid to use LSD, she added, because of the publicity about possible gene damage and danger to future babies. "Most kids are aware of the danger of getting addicted," another Pioneer student commented. But marijuana, by contrast, is not considered dangerous by many students. "I think I'd rather have my child on pot than alcohol," said a Pioneer girl knowledgeable about drugs. "Kids use marijuana instead of alcohol- it's an everyday thing," a Huron High senior casually explained. Pot does have its drawbacks, however. lts odor is usually tinguishable, and the smoke, of I course, is visible. A Pioneer I sophomore - who has smoked I pot - said these problems lead I some kids to take pills such as I "speed," a stimulant to the I central nevous system. "It's too much of a hassle to I smoke pot. It's easier to pop I pills than smoke grass," she I confided. After all, you can swallow a pill in the school 1 way with water and nobody knows whether you're taking an aspirin or not, she explained. Students at both Pioneer and Huron emphasized that not only "freaks" and hippie types use drugs. Whites, blacks, and "straight" kids use drugs, too, they're quick to add. "The number grows every day," a Pioneer girl said. "When I'm walking down the hall at school, I often hear a straight-looking girl saying, 'I turned on last night for the first time.' " School officials and students agree that student drug use became noticeable three to four years ago. A Pioneer senior said he didn't know of anyone on drugs three years ago, when he was a ninth-grader. Since then, he says, the increase has been "fantastic." He calis the spring of 1968 the "year of the turn-on," partially because of press publicity on the hippie way of life. (Tomorrow: Are drugs sold in the schools?)