EVERETT — A new survey has found interest in heroin among Snohomish County teenagers declined in 2016.
Teeenagers also curbed their appetite for electronic cigarettes and hookahs and admitted having greater difficulty buying marijuana since passage of a state law making it legal for adults in Washington.
Those are some of the results from responses of sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders to questions about their use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, opioids and other substances in last fall’s Healthy Youth Survey.
The survey is conducted statewide every two years. In October, more than 230,000 students from 236 school districts in 39 counties participated. In Snohomish County, 14,360 students from 13 school districts took part. Results released in March are based on answers provided anonymously by students.
Of Snohomish County 12th-graders, 3.2 percent reported having tried heroin at least once, down from 5.7 percent in 2014. Statewide, the usage figure was 4 percent, up from 3.2 percent in the last survey.
In Snohomish County, 2.2 percent of eighth-grade students and 3.4 percent of 10th-graders reported using the drug at least once, which also are lower numbers compared to two years ago.
“That, to us, is a very good sign,” said Gabrielle Fraley, epidemiologist with the Snohomish Health District. “The message is out there that this is a big problem.”
This was the first statewide survey since marijuana retailers opened their doors. And it also is the first since the unregulated medical marijuana industry was merged into the heavily-regulated recreational industry.
Turns out the new industry didn’t affect marijuana use as it remained the same for the oldest students surveyed, 26.7 percent, and statistically unchanged for those in grades six, eight and 10. But students in all grade levels did report that it is a lot harder to acquire it.
Vaping, which involves smoking with electronic cigarettes, is on the decline in the survey though still more popular than regular cigarettes.
Of eighth graders, 6.8 percent reported vaping in 2016, down from nearly 10 percent in 2014. For 10th graders, the 11.3 percent figure is a third less than two years ago. The tally for seniors, roughly 20 percent, is about the same.
Nearly twice as many students vape. Cigarette smoking for those grade levels was 3.2 percent, 6.7 percent and 10.6 percent in 2016 respectively.
And use of hookahs plummeted. Among 12th-graders it dropped from 17.4 percent to 8.8 percent, among 10th-graders from 11.8 percent to 5 percent and among eighth-graders from 5.7 percent to 2.4 percent.
Alcohol consumption habits didn’t change much among the county’s teens since the last survey. One-third of 12th graders report use of alcohol and 10.6 percent said they drank on three to five days in the previous month, defined as problem drinking in the survey.
Of 10th graders, 18.6 percent reported consuming booze at least once in the past 30 days, which statistically was unchanged from the 2014 survey.
However, current use among Snohomish County teens has dropped 39 percent since 2006, according to the health district statistics. For 10th graders, that figure is down from 34.1 percent in 2002.
“Many of our students are not trying substances at the rate they were 10 years ago. That’s good news,” Fraley said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com Twitter: @dospueblos.
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