Aspen School District substance abuse trending downward, statewide survey shows

Substance abuse among Aspen School District students decreased in the past two years, according to the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.

Results from the statewide survey conducted every two years showed shifting tides in substance abuse and the perception of substance abuse among students in the Aspen School District. Students who reported regularly drinking alcohol or vaping significantly dropped since 2021, some by as much as 10%, according to the survey results reviewed by The Aspen Times. 

But district percentages are still much higher than state averages, which district leaders partially attribute to Aspen’s pervasive drinking culture.

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“It’s rare you’ll go to an event in Aspen that isn’t sponsored by an alcohol company,” said Aspen Family Connections Director Katherine Sand. Aspen Family Connections is a family resource center that offers academic and emotional support, financial assistance, parenting workshops, and more. 

Addressing the issue will require much more than just the school district’s efforts, she said. 

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The Aspen Pitkin Healthy Futures Coalition, a group of community stakeholders formed in January, will address youth substance abuse using a multi-pronged approach. The coalition comprises school district leaders, parents, law enforcement officers, civic organizations, and more.

Its efforts will ramp up in fall.

“This is not just a school issue. It’s a parent issue, a family issue, a business issue, a law enforcement issue,” Sand said. “This is literally everybody’s concern because we’re all bringing up children, our children, collectively… The truth is, to change these results is a long game. We’re not going to snap our fingers and change attitudes.”

Alcohol and vaping

The percentage of Aspen School District students who reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days was 43.6%, down from 50% in 2021. Statewide, 20.5% of students reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days.

Easy access to alcohol is one of the main contributors to the district’s higher numbers, especially after voters approved the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores in 2022, Sand said. About 70% of ASD students said they felt it would be “sort of easy or very easy” to get alcohol if they wanted, according to the 2023 survey.

The school district is trying to tackle substance abuse using both education and enforcement, and it is hoping to be a leader in the state in its prevention efforts. 

In 2022, the district installed vapor detectors in the school restrooms. The district also enforced alcohol-free, school-sponsored events, including prom and homecoming dances where students were breathalyzed at the door.

Students who are caught vaping or drinking are also required to participate in classes that educate them on the risks of underage drinking and other substance abuse. Vaping leads to the most frequent infractions among students, but the amount of infractions is steadily trending downward, Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said. 

 Substance abuse perceptions

Using funds from the city’s tobacco tax, the district partnered with Soundcheck Prevention Network to educate students about the risks of substance abuse. Soundcheck Prevention Network works with schools around the world to provide educational materials and courses surrounding underage substance abuse.

Since the 2021 survey, perceptions of substance abuse have shifted among students. In 2023, 75.5% of Aspen High School students thought it was wrong for someone of the same age to use e-vapor products, compared to 65.3% of students in 2021.

But the rate at which students perceive their peers using substances is much different from the rate at which students actually reported using substances. About 62% of ASD students said they thought more than half of the students in their grade had four or more drinks on at least one day in the past 30 days, but only 30% of students reported having four or more drinks on at least one day in the past 30 days (which the survey described as binge drinking).

Students perceiving more frequent substance use around them could lead to unwanted substance use to fit in, or could exacerbate an existing problem, Sand said. 

“I think when young people realize that not actually everybody is doing the things they think everyone’s doing, it’s a relief. It takes a lot of pressure off, it makes it permissible not to use it, not to get drunk at a party,” Sand said. “Young people are going to experiment, that’s what being a young person is all about, but our hope is to provide them with information and context and an understanding that it’s OK not to (drink or use drugs) … you won’t be a social pariah.” 

The district is also working to increase its peer-to-peer substance abuse prevention training. The Aspen High School Hope Squad was formed in 2022 to offer peer-to-peer counseling, giving students a resource to talk about their struggles if they don’t yet feel comfortable to go to an adult in the school district.

The Hope Squad is largely funded using the city’s tobacco tax revenue.

“Having that student arm around prevention is imperative,” Mulberry said. “The more peer counseling we can provide, the better off we’re going to be.”

Mental health

The Hope Squad also provides mental health support for students, which students have said is especially needed as they came out of the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mental health and well-being among ASD students significantly increased from the 2021 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey to the 2023 survey. In 2021, about 40% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row. In 2023, only 20% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row. 

“We saw these kind of risk factors for suicide, suicidal ideation, making a plan, attempting, as well as self-harming … we saw all of those go down by about 50% between 2021 and 2023, so obviously that’s huge,” said Audrey Dickinson, a mental health data analyst with Pitkin County Public Health. 

Ensuring adequate academic support in addition to extracurricular activities for students is imperative in continuing a trend of increased mental health and decreased substance abuse, Mulberry said. 

“I think the real testament to that is just all of the opportunities that are provided to our students to be involved in something that isn’t supposed to be productive,” he said. “We have the most sports for a school our size in the state, we have multiple activities around music, dance, theater, art … all of these things are ways, I think, to get kids involved in activities that exacerbate that happiness quotient.”

The district is also working to make those programs more robust for younger students, especially middle school students, to keep them from turning to substance abuse. Substance abuse is reported much more frequently in the high school than the middle school, Sand said, but the district is seeing the age of people who abuse substances become younger each year. About 11% of students reported first drinking alcohol before the age of 13 in 2017, but in 2023 almost 20% of students reported first drinking alcohol before the age of 13. The first Healthy Kids Colorado Survey was conducted in 2013.

But the school district has also seen a steady decrease in reported drug and alcohol use over the past five years, according to survey results. A well-rounded and concerted effort to address the issue from all sides is to thank, Sand said. 

“The essence of prevention is not sitting around talking to kids about substance use. It’s ensuring that children are engaged, they’re supported in their mental health, they have activities, they have academic support if they need academic support, they have trusted adults, a sense of belonging in their community,” she said. “That’s the sort of slow, more intangible, but I think critical aspect of prevention which is all the things that go into making a happy, secure, confident, young human being.”

Lucy Peterson covers education and Snowmass for the Aspen Times. She can be reached at 970-429-9152 or lpeterson@aspentimes.com.