Cannabis use among RI middle school students is increasing; High school drinking is down, survey finds • Rhode Island Current

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Yesterday’s vices have lost some of their popularity among teenagers and young people in Rhode Island, according to a new survey.

And yet, cannabis appears to have found a larger audience — especially among middle school students — according to the 2024 Rhode Island Student Survey, conducted every two years by the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals (BHDDH) with support from Health – and state departments of education.

Students overall reported using fewer substances of all types, but marijuana use increased significantly in the middle school group: 7.8% used it in the past 30 days, an increase from the 5.4% reported in the last survey were observed in 2022. Middle school students used cannabis more than any other drug, including alcohol.

“This is not good news,” BHDDH director Richard Leclerc said at a presentation of the survey results on Tuesday Classic high school.

Leclerc instead pointed to results showing that substance use reported by high school students in Rhode Island is largely stagnant or slowly declining. Among high school students, for example, marijuana use in the last 30 days fell from 14.9% to 10.9%.

This year’s report surveyed more than 23,000 students in 29 school districts, including Providence for the first time. The 30-minute online survey included 81 questions – this year adding several new questions about gambling and cell phone use – and was offered in English and Spanish. Students in grades 6 to 12 participated voluntarily with parental permission, and each respondent received a brochure containing information about resources or support.

Middle and high school students said in this year’s survey that they used less alcohol, e-cigarettes, cigarettes and sedatives than in previous years, and most children believe family and friends would disapprove of substance use.

“The numbers you see today show that our prevention efforts are working,” Leclerc said.

Rebecca Elwell, regional director of the state’s Newport County Prevention Coalitionagreed. “We work every day to build a safety net for young people in the state of Rhode Island by strengthening their positive attributes and addressing the risk factors young people face,” Elwell said. “Prevention is a science. We use evidence-based strategies that have been tested and replicated.”

Pressure from peers and parents not to use drugs was reflected in students’ responses about actual use. Reports of marijuana use in the past 30 days fell from about one in seven high school students to one in nine, while e-cigarette and e-cigarette use fell from one in eight to one in 14. Alcohol consumption fell significantly among high school students. Interest rates drop from 14.5% to 10%. Fewer students reported being passengers in cars with impaired drivers.

Simone Punchak, a senior at Classical High School, told those gathered for Tuesday’s program that her experience as a member of the mayor’s youth prevention team taught her “that prevention is not just about ensuring others are protected from potential risks “but that they themselves are offered opportunities for success.”

“The Rhode Island Student Survey is a powerful tool for this effort,” Punchak said. “The data provided will help us better understand our challenges and help us build stronger programs for the future.”

The data report also calculates numbers for different regions in Rhode Island, a unique feature important to securing federal funding for prevention efforts. Regional profiles can be found on the BHDDH website.

The slowly declining rate of substance use among today’s high school students, whatever the cause, is even more pronounced compared to teenagers at the turn of the millennium. Survey on risk behavior among young people Data from 1997 found that 36% of Rhode Island high school students were in a car with an impaired driver. In 2024, in the Rhode Island Student Survey, only 14% of high school students said the same.

But Colleen Judge, director of student support services for school prevention organization Rhode Island Student Assistant Services, pointed out that some things remain the same. “We have to remember that puberty is challenging,” she said. “How could you forget?”

Other highlights of the survey included:

• Eighth and ninth graders made up 25% and 22% of respondents, respectively. High school seniors and seniors responded at rates of 4% and 3%, respectively. Overall, almost half of the male and female participants were split between the grade levels. Transgender students and students with other gender identities made up about 4% of survey participants.
• In the 2020 survey, bullying rates fell by a few percentage points in the middle of the pandemic, but have since returned to pre-pandemic levels. This still did not result in a major increase among high school students, but middle school students reported a two to three percentage point increase in bullying online or via text message.
• On average, about 38% of students across all grades said they had “made fun of other people,” while 16% of middle school students said they had spread rumors and another 15% had sent hurtful texts or pictures to a classmate.
• Less than 15% of middle and high school students said they had “thought about attempting suicide.” Among high school students who reported having suicidal thoughts, 35% attempted suicide, compared to 41% in 2022. (The rate was 35% in 2018.) But the share of middle school students who attempted suicide rose from 45% in 2022 2022 to 46%. in this year’s survey.

The appeal of scratch cards

Gambling and screen time, which were new additions to this year’s survey questions, could not be compared to previous years’ data, but both appeared to be relatively popular habits.

About 21% of students said they had tried gambling. The most popular form of gambling was scratch cards. Gifted scratch cards accounted for 19% of students’ gambling habits – surpassing gambling that young adults enjoyed, such as fantasy sports, which only 5% of high school students had bet on.

About half of students said they used their phones between one and five hours a day, although most said they often spent more time on the devices than they would have liked. A worrying 6% of middle school students and 4% of high school students reported spending 16 or more hours on their phones each day.