Marijuana Policy Project

Alicia Haefele, 17, said she has not tried marijuana, but she never would have guessed that most of her classmates at Alfred Bonnabel High School in Kenner also refrained from smoking pot.

"Everybody assumes that everybody is doing it," Haefele said Tuesday during a gathering of Bonnabel's more than 1,300 students. "But everybody is not doing it."

Alicia spoke with some sense of authority, having participated in a "social norms" survey that measured students' perception of marijuana use among their peers versus the reality of such use. When asked how many of their classmates at the largest public school in East Jefferson had tried marijuana, the average estimate was 82 percent. But when asked whether they themselves had ever smoked marijuana, 76 percent said no.

"The study says that kids are misperceiving the usage rate in their peer groups," said David Alvarez, director of education and prevention services for the nonprofit Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, which coordinated the survey. "That can lead to students wanting to try it because they think everyone else is doing it. But the opposite is true."

Alvarez was among numerous community leaders and parish officials who joined students and faculty to celebrate the news at a pep rally on Bonnabel's football field.

Organized by student leaders who dubbed the campaign "76 Cuz Bhs," or 76 percent because Bonnabel High says the event featured the school's cheerleaders, marching band, and guest speakers from the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Others attending were representatives of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, as well as Jefferson Parish's Sheriff's Office, public school system and Alliance of Concerned Citizens. The alliance, formed by District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. to reduce drug and alcohol abuse in Jefferson Parish, paid for the survey.

Alvarez said the purpose of the survey was to take one school and determine how the rate of marijuana use there compares with national figures. In its 2006 assessment of adolescent substance-use habits, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that the rate of marijuana use among 10th graders was 25.2 percent, down from 26.6 percent in 2005, and among 12th graders was 31.5 percent, down from 33.6 percent.

The Bonnabel survey does not break down rates among grade levels, but Alvarez said the school's totals are comparable to national statistics. A similar survey is being conducted at West Jefferson High School in Harvey, with the results scheduled to be announced later in the year.

Alvarez said most students took the survey seriously, although some treated it as a joke. He said experts were able to weed out answers they deemed untruthful.

"There's always a percentage of kids who won't take these things seriously," said John Humphries Jr., a senior analyst with the Metropolitan Crime Commission. "Some of them said they tried every drug under the sun every day. We just tossed those out."

Officials said that while the results of the survey are cause to celebrate, it is up to students to keep the message in the forefront. "It's important that kids hear the positive messages about usage rates," Alvarez said.

Meghan Hurst, 17, a senior at Bonnabel, agreed and said she plans to do her part in spreading the message.

"I don't smoke marijuana, and I know my friends don't smoke," she said. "I've been tempted, but you can't let peer pressure get to you."