The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
By Mark Reaman and Kendra Walker
In a good news-bad news situation, the Gunnison County Substance Abuse Prevention Project (GCSAPP) released some figures at the end of 2024 showing that while there has been a significant drop in high school substance abuse numbers in the county, there is growing concern over middle school substance abuse.
GCSAPP manager Emily Mirza presented some statistics to the Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte town councils earlier this year from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) the school district does every other year. She said that while things like binge drinking, marijuana use and vaping were apparently going down in high school, there is still concern with high schoolers having access to prescription drugs and middle schoolers experimenting with alcohol and vaping.
Gunnison Watershed School District students take the survey anonymously and can opt out if they do not want to take it. In 2023, 457 high schoolers and 399 middle schoolers took the survey. Mirza said GCSAPP takes the data from these surveys to understand what’s going on with youth and follow trends in substance abuse. Then they use the data to help shape programming and how to help support local youth.
“The goal with GCSAPP is to reduce risk and increase protections for our kids,” Mirza said. “The high school students in the RE1J school district have shown a big drop in numbers for things like binge drinking. There has been some good success with high school students. The concerns now are with middle school students, primarily around alcohol and vaping. We still have concerns with both groups over mental health issues.”
Mirza presented statistics showing that in 2023, 24.5% of middle school students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two weeks or more in the last 12 months. That compared to 21% feeling the same in 2019. In 2023, 7.5% of middle schoolers reported they had attempted suicide. Mirza noted that the number jumped to 15.3% for Hispanic youth according to the HKCS.
“There is a concerning disparity there with our Hispanic students,” she emphasized.
High school students also reported having easy access to prescription drugs. “That’s concerning because if they’re not prescribed something, they don’t know the source of that drug and there’s a chance it’s laced with fentanyl,” said GCSAPP data and communications coordinator John Powell. He noted that GCSAPP has worked to distribute Narcan to youth and throughout the community.
The increasing trend for middle school substance abuse can be seen from almost 8% saying they used alcohol in the last 30 days in 2023 compared to 5% in 2019. Vaping increased from 3.7% of students saying they were using it in 2019 to 7.5% in 2023.
As for successes, high school binge drinking in the last 30 days declined from 27% in 2019 to 17.9% in 2023. Vaping declined from 36.7% in 2019 to 9.5% in 2023.
“What do you attribute that spike to in 2019?” asked Mt. CB councilmember Steve Morris.
“Across the state we saw a spike for all substances in 2019,” said Mirza. “Some speculate that with COVID there were more boundaries and more connection to parents and supervision.”
“There was also a lot of marketing happening to youth specifically around vaping,” said Powell. “Now we have seen rollback from that and lawsuits.”
Mirza added, “In 2020, the age to purchase nicotine products went to 21. So we often see big gap changes with big policy changes.”
Mirza said that the survey questions mostly stay the same, but they adjust questions based on trends they’re seeing with responses. For example, “We expect for the 2025 survey there will be questions around nicotine pouches,” said Mirza.
Mirza explained that GCSAPP hopes to engage prevention efforts earlier. “We want to start in fourth and fifth grades and include parents earlier as well. One of the most concerning parts for us is the mental health indicators with both high school and middle school.”
She said the goal was to enroll at least 50% of the school district’s sixth to 12th graders into the Choice Pass program and have no more than 5% in violations annually. The Choice Pass program rewards participating students with discounts to 60 local business including a highly discounted ski pass and access to healthy programming such as roller-skating, laser tag, backcountry skiing, outdoor leadership and more for making healthy choices including not using substances.
Mirza said that in 2023-24, “604 students participated with 94.4% upholding their commitment by making healthy choices such as not using drugs and alcohol, not getting in trouble with the law, not getting suspended from school or self-reporting. We have seen success over the years with the number of youth and parents in Choice Pass who report having difficult conversations about drugs and alcohol, mental health, and healthy relationships and consent. One of the strongest protective factors for youth is having trusted adults in their lives.” In 2023, 78.9% of middle school students and 89.6% of high school students reported having a parent or caregiver they could go to for help with a serious problem.
Powell also noted that on the flipside, a point of concern is that youth in the valley have access to substances through older siblings, friends and adults. “Especially in some of our industries here, kids work summer jobs and make connections with older kids or young adults. Oftentimes we hear they’re getting things from an older sibling. “We’re trying to figure out how to support kids whose parents are working and commute long hours, and the kids are left with lots of time by themselves or with friends.”
Mirza said that GCSAPP hopes to increase the number of youth who have supportive adults in their lives and increase access to healthy programming like Choice Pass going forward.
