Every two years there is a statewide survey given to students Grades 6-12 called the Missouri Student Survey. This survey is optional for school districts to participate in, but this year over 2,800 students statewide completed the survey, and 706 of those were from Butler County. The majority of the students taking the survey were in the 6th grade (44.8%). The remaining 55% were made up of high school students’ grades (9-12). This survey asks students tons of questions, it covers things like previous substance use, substance use perceptions, behaviors, depression, parent’s perception, and resiliency. Today we are primarily going to be discussing the results of students in Butler County, and we are going to focus on the substance use indicators to determine where we are now and where are we heading.
Perhaps the most telling portion of the survey is the past 30 day use section. This section asks students about which substances they have used in the past 30 days. The first substance addressed is tobacco (cigarettes or chew). To the surprise of many adults in the community this percentage is relatively small with only 3.5% of students reporting use in the past 30 days. Based upon my conversations with youth in the community and reviewing other data, I think this is accurate. Cigarettes and chew are just not the primary substances youth are using at this time. These substances are harder to obtain, harder to hide, and more expensive than other substances such as e-cigarettes. E-Cigarettes are by far the most commonly used substance among youth. This year’s MSS reports that 8.5% of students have used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. Some national surveys have concluded that more like 40% of high school students are actually using e-cigarettes. 6.1% of students reported using alcohol in the past 30 days which is down slightly from previous years. The final past 30 days use indicator we will discuss is marijuana. 4.6% of the students in Butler County reported using this substance. This amount has decreased slightly from the 2022 survey, however, it will be interesting to see what 2026 shows us as Marijuana is now legal for recreational use in Missouri, and is much more easily accessible than in the past.
The next section of the survey I want to discuss is the parents’ perception of wrongness. According to the 2024 survey 93.8% of students believe their parents feel it would be ‘wrong’ or ‘very wrong’ to smoke tobacco. 95.6% of students believe parents would be ‘wrong’ or ‘very wrong’ to take one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day. Perhaps the most alarming were the statistics regarding marijuana and vape use. 92.9% said they believe their parents feel it would be ‘wrong’ or ‘very wrong’ to smoke marijuana once or twice a week and 93.1% feel it would be ‘wrong’ or ‘very wrong’ to vape. These statistics show us that the majority of youth believe their parents disapprove of them using substances. However, the number of students who thought their parents would disapprove of vaping or marijuana use was less than alcohol. I think this could have a few potential causes. It could have to do with the fact that marijuana and vapes are two very widespread substances and youth could see their parents using these substances often. I also think that there have been long-term misconceptions about the safety of using these products. Vapes or e-cigarettes have been marketed as the ‘safer alternative’ to smoking cigarettes, and while that may be true in some ways, safer doesn’t mean safe. Marijuana has been associated with being a “natural” substance and therefore safer to use. It is important to note that though this may have once been the case, this is no longer true. The marijuana being sold in dispensaries today has been genetically modified to be more potent with higher levels of THC concentration that do not occur in nature. This is such an important indicator to consider because we know through research that parent’s perception of substance use is a huge factor in preventing youth substance use.
The perception of availability section of the survey asks youth how easy they think it is to get a particular substance. There was little change in this year’s survey, with most youth reporting that substances were harder to obtain than in 2022. 30.8% of students said it was ‘very’ or ‘sort of’ easy to get cigarettes. 41.1% said it was ‘very’ or ‘sort of’ easy to get e-cigarettes. 36.3% reported it was easy to get alcohol, and 30.3% said it was easy to get marijuana.
The perception of harm section asks youth if they think there is a risk associated with using a particular substance. 25% of students said they felt there was ‘no’ or ‘slight risk’ if they used e-cigarettes. That’s a fourth of our kids that believe that is safe to use e-cigarettes. This should scare us, as we know that being addicted to a substance during adolescence is indicative of future substance use, and these e-cigarettes are HIGHLY addictive for youth. Even higher, 30.4% of students reported ‘no’ or ‘slight risk’ if they drank alcohol and 30.5% believed there was ‘no’ or slight risk’ if they smoke marijuana once or twice a week. Our coalition looks at these numbers very closely because these are things we can do something about. We have to consider why these numbers are so high.. Is it because the youth see adults in their lives using these substances and think well they are fine, so I would be too? Or is it because they simply don’t know the effects of substances? Our education around substance use largely focuses on educating youth on the harms of specific substances. We always tell our students, that we want them to know so that they can make the decision that is best for them.
A new section on the Missouri Student Survey this year is the resiliency section. These indicators do not pertain specifically to substance use, however I still think they are important to note. 70% of students feel optimistic about the future. To be honest, this statistic scared me. That means that 30% of our kids are not optimistic about their future.. I’m sure that there are a number of factors that play into this including but not limited to poverty, abuse, and neglect. 54.2% of students said they feel they handle stress in a healthy way. This means almost HALF of our kids don’t handle stress in a healthy way. 74.9% of students said they feel they have an adult in their life to turn to when they feel things are overwhelming. The reason that I wanted to mention these statistics, is these are all risk factors for substance use. Stress, no hope in the future, and lack of adults support are all listed as risk factors that we know put kids at a higher risk for turning to substance use.
So what does it all mean? Realistically, we really haven’t seen much difference in the reporting from the 2022 to the 2024 data. Most indicators have very little change. We know that we need to work on education about the harms of substance use. We know that we need to continue to educate parents on how to have conversations with their children about substance use. What did we learn? We learned that we NEED to teach our kids how to deal with stress in a healthy way. As adults, we may need to reflect on our own behaviors and ensure we are modeling how to deal with stress in a healthy way for our children. I think as a community we also need to really look at what we are doing for the 25% of students who don’t feel they have an adult to turn to. Get involved.. Lunch buddy, mentoring program, CASA, foster grandparents, Boys and Girls Club, there are so many great organizations that would love to help connect you with youth who need an adult like you.
The We Can Be Drug Free Coalition plans to use this data to continue our efforts in Butler County and do what we can do empower our youth to live drug free lives.