ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Middle and high schools in Roanoke County want to know if students are doing drugs, how often and why. To find out, they’ll be asking students about their behaviors by using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Like most school systems, Roanoke County wants to stay ahead of dangerous behaviors by it’s students. Tuesday, the school board got a look at numbers that show the levels of drug use and mental health concerns.
Research shows 30% smoked marijuana, 54% used alcohol, 3.4% have tried stronger, more addictive drugs like heroin, and 19% have considered suicide.
The executive director of the Prevention Council of Roanoke County, Nancy Hans, says the research shows where kids need help.
“That gives us a ton of information and it also helps us know that things have changed in the last 20 years and this community has responded in a way that puts protective factors around our kids and our families,” said Hans.
The assessment is given to middle and high schoolers every two years. School officials will give the assessment in the coming weeks. A big change from the last assessment in 2020 is the legalization of marijuana.
“We’ve already had a new challenge, the edibles that look like candy. They are completely legal and unregulated and that is where we need to do a ton of education for our community,” said Hans.
The survey also asks about depression, sexual activity and bullying. New this year will be questions about anxiety.
“I would expect to see some changes in data around depression. We have a new data point for anxiety. I would expect to see quite a bit of anxiety from our students,” said Roanoke County Schools’ director of counseling, Dr. Shawn Hughes.
Dr. Hughes says once the data is collected, school leaders can better protect their students.
“Because of the increases in data we’ve seen on the YRBS we’ve been able to put programs in place, evidence-based programs so that we can provide educational information to our parents and also our students,” she said.