Nearly 1 in 5 high schoolers drunk or stoned in class

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They may be in the classroom, but their heads are somewhere else. Nearly one in five students do drugs, drink or smoke cigarettes during the school day, according to a jarring new survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. While the revelation that 17% of high school students may be half in the bag on any given day may come as a shock to some parents or teachers, it’s old news to the 1,000 students surveyed. Some 86% told survey-takers that they were well aware their glassy-eyed classmates were stoned or drunk. “It takes a teen to know what’s going on in the teen world,” said Emily Feinstein, who directed the 17th annual survey. Half of the students polled said they know who deals drugs at school — and where students can go nearby to get high. Marijuana was the drug easiest to buy on school grounds, students said, followed by prescription drugs, cocaine and ecstasy. The survey of 12- to 17-year-olds also found that seeing pictures on Facebook or MySpace of their pals partying made them want to get drunk or stoned themselves. Some 75% said this kind of digital peer pressure is a major problem and 45% said they saw online photos of classmates drinking, doing drugs or even passing out. These kids were four times likelier to have smoked pot, three times likelier to have used alchohol, and three times likelier to smoke cigarettes, the survey found. NY Daily