Editor’s note: Madeline Hardy is a student of Monument Mountain High School, class of 2025. Madeline is a co-chair of the Railroad Street Youth Project’s Southern Berkshire Community Health Coalition. The organization is a group of community partners collaborating to prevent youth substance use in South County.
Berkshire County — Since 2006, a Prevention Needs Assessment (PNA) survey has been administered to eighth–, tenth, and twelfth-grade students at both Monument Mountain Regional High School and Mount Everett High Regional High School every two years. The PNA is a self-reported digital and printed survey designed to assess rates of alcohol and other drug use, sources and access points to those substances for youth, and a range of key risk and protective factors at the peer, family, school, and community levels to better understand the experiences, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of young people about alcohol and other drugs.
This year, data from the 2023 PNA was analyzed by four members of the Southern Berkshire Community Health Coalition (SBCHC), including Youth Co-Chairs Madeline Hardy, a junior at Monument, and Lesyle Bautista-Cruz, a junior at Mount Everett, and two staff members of Railroad Street Youth Project, SBCHC Coordinator Zinc Estime and SBCHC Director Laura Rodriguez.
Their findings identified that normalization and relaxed attitudes toward alcohol and drug use at the family and community level play a critical role in influencing youth substance use. Fifty-four percent of South County students reported that they perceive community laws and norms favor drug use. When considering the harm of substances, 68 percent perceived low to little risk in consuming a substance. Both statistics are the highest they have been in the last four years – and higher than the national average.
Furthermore, South County’s history of relaxed attitudes has fostered a sense that alcohol and drug use is normal. This has only been enhanced by a very prominent cannabis industry, resulting in higher youth substance use rates overall. Alcohol consumption in South County is a particular issue of concern. Alcohol consumption and binge drinking rates are at the highest levels they have been in the last four years and significantly higher in South County when compared to the rest of Berkshire County and the nation. Thirty percent of students in South County reported consuming alcohol within the previous 30 days of taking the survey. Of those students, 44 percent reported parental attitudes that favor drug use and 53 percent reported that they drank alcohol at home with parental permission. Coalition members took note of the elevated rate of alcohol consumption among female-identifying students; young women were 43 percent more likely to consume alcohol than young men, and 25 percent of twelfth-grade girls reported binge drinking within the previous 14 days of taking the survey.
The value of sports and friendships is a protective factor. Most students do not drink or use substances while they are in season for a sport, that feeling of belonging on the team and the concern about athletic ability overrides the feeling of belonging that students get while drinking. Similarly with friend groups, if the dynamic of the friend group is substance-free, using is more looked down upon than praised.
Statistics of declining mental health were also of concern after reviewing PNA data. When asked “How often have you felt so depressed that nothing could cheer you up within the last 30 days?” 51.3 percent of students responded, “more than five times.” In addition, 32.1 percent of students reported being bullied within the past year, and 60 percent of those students said that they did not report the incident to a trusted adult or faculty member. There was also a marked increase in suicidal thoughts among Black and Latinx students. 6.6 percent of Latinx students reported that they had attempted suicide two to three times within the last 12 months of taking the survey. When asked the question “During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide?” The percentage of Black students who answered “yes” was greater than the percentage of students in all of South County that answered yes.
Drug and alcohol prevention efforts like those designed and delivered by the South Berkshire Community Health Coalition can play a crucial role in safeguarding the health and well-being of individuals and communities. By raising awareness, promoting education, and implementing evidence-based strategies, we can mitigate the harmful effects of substance use and foster a supportive environment for those most at risk.
