While recent reports indicate that drug use among teenagers is skyrocketing, students and administrators at Hanover High School say the drug problem on their campus has remained essentially unchanged.
While they admit a drug problem exists, students and administrators at Hanover High say it is no greater than the drug problems facing other high schools around the country. The annual national Household Drug Survey, released recently by the Department of Health and Human Services, indicated that marijuana use among teenagers rose 141 percent from 1992 to 1995.
Casey Farrell, a junior at Hanover High, struggled with a drug and alcohol problem last year.
Farrell said he first experimented with marijuana and alcohol when he was 14 and later used LSD. The use turned into abuse and led Farrell to a rehabilitation clinic twice during his sophomore spring, he said.
But Farrell said drug use at Hanover High is now fairly low. "It's about as low as its going to get," he said.
He estimated that about 40 percent of Hanover High students have used drugs -- mainly marijuana and some LSD.
Other students had similar takes on drug use at Hanover High.
Hanover High junior Doug Pilcher said regular drug use is "fairly uncommon ... but a select few have a drug problem."
"The more you try and stop it the more you are going to get people who want to do it," he added.
Administrators and police officials say there has been a slight increase in drug use on the Hanover High campus, but the problem is manageable
Hanover High School Associate Principal Linwood "Skip" Bean said the school had much more widespread drug problems in the past, but acknowledged that recently there has been a slight increase in student substance abuse
Last year "we had five or six kids with serious problems," Bean said.
But "the drug problem now is not nearly what it was in the '70s," Bean said. "We had times ... when we were taking kids to the emergency room from Hanover High."
Bean then qualified his statement. "That's not to say we don't have kids with drugs problems at Hanover High."
Hanover High Principal Uwe Bagnato said he does not believe that the drug problem at his school is abnormal.
"Yeah, we have a problem, just like every American community," Bagnato said. "I have considerable objections, however, to reports that we have a more serious problem."
Bagnato said the results of The New Hampshire Youth Risk Survey indicated that the level of drug use at Hanover High was "very typical of most communities in the two states" -- New Hampshire and Vermont.
The survey asked students to assess the frequency of high risk behavior, such as drug and alcohol abuse and sexual encounters, he said.
But Bagnato said he is concerned with the early age at which students begin experimenting with drugs.
"Behaviors that were once college behaviors are now seventh and eighth grade behaviors. This is unfortunately a national trend," he said.
Pilcher agreed that the trend was moving to younger users. "You definitely see freshman using drugs," he said.
Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said the amount of drug use at Hanover High is not unusual.
Giaccone said the current problem is not that big. "We don't see a problem that is beyond control," he said.
"We are aware that there are students at the high school that occasionally use drugs," Giaccone said. "We are not going to stick our heads in the sand over that."
Giaccone said that juvenile drug cases from the high school mostly involved marijuana.
Bagnato said Hanover High is equipped to handle substance abuse problems.
The school provides aid to students in the form of the Student Assistance Team, which is a group trained professionals who work together to provide support and guidance for students with drug problems, according to a Hanover High alcohol and other drug procedure code.
Bagnato said the school also promotes a strong drug awareness educational program including a health course, which all sophomores must take.
Bean said the school's response system to students with drug and alcohol problems is "supposed to be punitive and helpful" at the same time.
"We treat this as a legal issue and a health issue," Bagnato said.
Pilcher said he believes there is a good health program at the high school.
"I was educated enough to deal with using drugs," Pilcher said.
But Farell said he did not believe Hanover High's officials gave him the support he needed to combat his drug problem.
He said the health education came too late to do any good. "By the time we had the course, I was already into [drugs]," Farrell said.
"The administration could have been more helpful," Farrell said. "They were supposed to send me my work in rehab, but I never got it."
As a consequence, Farrell said he had to repeat his sophomore year of high school.
Pilcher said he no longer uses drugs. "I stopped ... a lot because of what was going on with Casey."
Farell said his experience has also caused him to give up drugs.
In addition to addressing health needs, the school's administrative board takes disciplinary action against students who abuse drugs, he said.
Disciplinary measures include losing free time in school, being referred to the police and the possibility of expulsion, Bagnato said.
Bagnato said that each violation follows a detailed set of protocol, but "all [drug and alcohol] violations involve contacting parents and the police."
For example students who are caught either selling or attempting to sell drugs are suspended for up to 10 school days, face possible expulsion and referred to the Student Assistance Team, in addition to having school authorities inform parents and police of the problem, according to the drug code.
Students who are caught possessing alcohol or drugs are suspended for five days, referred to the Student Assistance Team and Hanover High's administration also notifies their parents and the police of their conduct, the drug code stated.
"We try to think of it as a community problem, not just a school issue," Bean said.
