Nov 24, 2019 3 min read

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Last Monday evening, the Greene County Drug and Alcohol Program (GCDAP) hosted an event in the 4-H building to address underage drinking and prevention. Its goal was to open the conversation for caregivers and their children to discuss the reasons behind and consequences of drinking.

No one RSVP’d.

“Historically, attendance at events like these are never good,” said Tracie Sypin, prevention specialist for GCDAP.

But she insists the need is there.

“It’s our No. 1 issue when you look at the data,” Sypin said of underage alcohol consumption.

According to the 2017 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), a biannual survey of the commonwealth’s children in grades six, eight, 10 and 12, 15.2% of all Greene County children reported they’d consumed alcohol in the last 30 days.

The 2019 survey was conducted in August and Sypin expects to see those numbers in April. PAYS is administered to more than 250,000 children in close to 1,000 school across the state.

According to the 2017 PAYS, 1 in every 25 sixth-graders in Greene County, more than 1 in 10 eighth-graders, more than 1 in 5 10th-graders and more than 1 in 4 12th-graders reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to taking the survey. Vaping is the second most common behavior for Greene County youth, with 14.2% of the population reporting usage.

“In rural areas it’s sometimes considered a rite of passage,” Sypin said of alcohol.

According to Lorraine Yasenosky of the Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission, children start thinking about alcohol at 8 years old, and 75% of teens reported their parents are the leading influence in their decision to drink.

Yasenosky urged parents to have a conversation about alcohol use with their children.

“They’re listening, so what are you going to say?” she said.

The PAYS survey indicated 4.4% of county youth reported they’d gone to school drunk or high in the last year. And students who took the survey were above average compared to the rest of the state when it came to binge drinking. Greene scored 8.2% compared to the overall state, which reported 7.5%.

So where are children getting alcohol?

According to the survey, 32.2% of Greene youth reported taking it without permission. The second most common way children obtain alcohol in Greene County (23.7%) is through someone they pay to purchase it for them. About 22% reported a friend’s parents provided it for them.

“These kids are drinking in their homes, in their friends’ homes. They’re staying out of trouble with it,” said Jennifer Rizor, a juvenile probation officer for Greene County. “We’re just not seeing the backlash.”

Rizor said marijuana is the biggest issue with the children in the juvenile justice system, and 75% of her personal caseload involves it. She said 100% of the children who come through the juvenile justice system are using either alcohol or marijuana, and 1 out of every 3 children she works with are continuous drug and/or alcohol users.

“If you (help) one person it’s a success,” Sypin said of her work.

She’s been a prevention specialist since 2005 and noted GCDAP has multiple programs both in and outside of the county’s schools. She recently instituted an evidence-based program called Positive Action, which teaches children in all five school districts in the county about self-esteem and confidence in making positive decisions.

“If I do good things, I feel good and help others,” she said of the program’s premise.

The Greene County Drug and Alcohol Program is in the Fort Jackson Building in Waynesburg.

For more information, call 724-852-5276.