Blunt talk from educators on marijuana use

MAT-SU — In this article, we return to a familiar topic: marijuana in schools, a topic we explored last week.

Last month, a survey was sent to the student body at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School. This survey asked students about their use of marijuana and other recreational drugs and about how prevalent they are in the school.

This week’s story examines the same issue from a different angle. It asks teachers about how marijuana affects the school and community as a whole.

When you talk to CTHS faculty, all seem concerned about marijuana use among the student body. It seems like there’s more misinformation than facts. Although drug use is known to happen, teachers have a hard time pinpointing activity down to individual students.

“No, I do not feel like I’m aware,” one teacher said. “I don’t hear about it and it isn’t shared or discussed. Sometimes I feel like I’m walking around clueless.”

Other teachers reflect this attitude. Many were surprised by the student survey results. According to the survey, 20 percent of the student body reported having used marijuana at least once. Slightly fewer students reported using other recreational drugs such as alcohol or prescription drugs.

While many teachers can’t ascertain how prevalent marijuana is in schools, all agree that recreational drugs of any kind should not be on school grounds. In technical classes, being under the influence of any substance can be downright dangerous.

“We’re working around power equipment so it is something we’re constantly on the lookout for,” said Alan Johnson, a construction trades teacher. He is sure that marijuana will not help students looking to go into careers in construction. “In our industry, you’ll find that the policy has really stepped up. It’s hard to find a good job without taking a drug test.”

Marijuana legalization is still considered a taboo subject by some. Even so, discussing the pros and cons of legalization in a classroom setting is becoming more and more common. CTHS English teacher Jeffrey Parsons has been opening up dialogue among his students with formal debates about marijuana legalization for the past several years.

When asked about how much he knew about the prevalence of marijuana in schools, he simply said, “I don’t know. I have no idea. I want to believe it’s less prevalent, but I’ve had kids tell me it isn’t.”

Though it is his first year as principal at CTHS, Mark Okeson feels like he is starting to get an idea of the drug culture at CTHS, or lack thereof.

“I won’t claim to be an expert at this school yet, but there’s a very minimal problem with drugs,” he said. “It’s a very small problem on campus.”

When shown the student drug survey result, Okeson is not happy with the numbers, but also not surprised.

“The numbers don’t shock me,” he said. “I’m glad it’s not any higher, but I also wish it was lower.”

He continued to say that he feels marijuana use is lower at CTHS than at other schools he has worked at.

The student drug survey was a small snapshot of the true drug culture at CTHS. The school appears to have a far lower drug use rate than its counterparts in the Valley. Still, the fact that nearly a fifth of students at CTHS have engaged in marijuana use at least once is worrying to many.

It seems difficult for anyone, whether they’re a student, teacher or principal, to know the number of student drug users. Though all teachers may not see eye-to-eye on the issue, anyone involved in education agrees that marijuana has no place on the school campus.

Sophie Harris is a senior and Zac Neubauer a sophomore at CTHS.