Some parents find it hard to control their child’s drinking or drug use, or feel powerless in the face of peer pressure and substance abuse by other students.

Jackson High School’s Family Substance Abuse Committee offers an outlet for those wanting to change things.

The group, comprised of parents, students and school administrators, meets to plan ways to prevent substance abuse, raise awareness and start a dialogue on the issue. The goal is to make Mill Creek — and teens — safer.

The deaths of two Jackson students last year involved drugs, said Lyn Lauzon, the Jackson drug and alcohol counselor who heads up the committee. She’s not aware of any deaths this year.

“The majority of kids do not drink and do drugs,” Lauzon said. “But it is still a problem. Alcohol poisoning can be a problem, drinking and driving can be a problem and using different drugs in combination with alcohol can be problems.”

At Jackson, 22 percent of sophomores and 21 percent of seniors reported they’d had five or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks, according to a fall 2004 Healthy Youth Survey at the school.

In both grades, 36 percent said they’d had a glass of alcohol in the last 30 days and 24 percent said they’d used an illegal drug in that time. Twenty-two percent of 10th graders and 23 percent of 12th graders said they’d used marijuana in the last month.

Another survey was done this fall, but the results aren’t out yet.

Some parents in the community are frustrated with drug use and other dangerous student behaviors.

David Martin, a Jackson parent, withdrew his daughter from Jackson last month for several reasons, one being a January article in the Stiqayu, the student newspaper. The article described students using drugs and having sex in the bathrooms.

“Call me old fashioned, but high school has changed a lot since I went,” he wrote in a letter to the principal. “The thought of this kind of influence on a daily basis for the next three years was too much for me to stand by and do nothing.”

The Substance Abuse Committee formed in winter 2004, when Terry Cheshire, in his first year as principal, became frustrated with the number of suspensions for alcohol and drug related offenses. Cheshire and the school’s resource officer attend committee meetings.

The group put on the Town Hall for the first time last year.

They’ve also brought speakers to campus, for example, a paralyzed young man who’d broken his neck after he fell while drunk at a University of Washington fraternity house.

This year, the committee founded a Drug-Free Youth club, which meets on campus during the school day.

“It’s a perk for kids who commit to being drug and alcohol free,” Lauzon said, adding that they take random drug tests.

The students get discounts at local participating businesses and go on outings like bowling.

They also helped the committee plan the upcoming Town Hall on Underage Drinking.

This spring, the group will plan ways to keep prom and graduation safe, maybe an education piece like a mock accident, Lauzon said.

Lauzon hopes to recruit more parents and students into the committee, which meets once a month.