By Ross Markman
Fifty-six.
That's the percentage of Havre High students who admitted in a survey conducted last year by the school district's administration to using marijuana at least once in their lifetimes.
Thirty-seven.
That's the percentage who said they had used it in the past 30 days.
Both statistics, according to the survey, are higher than the statewide averages of 47 percent and 27 percent, respectively.
A 90-minute satellite broadcast, sponsored by Havre Public Schools and the HELP Committee and Hi-Line Boys & Girls Club, is seeking to lower those numbers. The program will air Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Room 202 of the Hagener Science Center at Montana State University-Northern.
The teleconference will feature a panel discussing the myths surrounding marijuana use and the role pop culture plays in influencing those myths. Viewers will be able to call or fax questions live to the panelists.
"(The statistics) are obviously a wake-up call by themselves," said Virginia Miller, prevention specialist for HELP and the school district. "That's somebody's kid. I would imagine that 56 percent of those parents don't know how big a problem (marijuana) is."
The discussion is the first televised forum HELP has hosted on marijuana use. The organization has aired others on underage drinking, tobacco use, and responsible business owning, which focused on merchants not selling tobacco and alcohol to minors.
As for Thursday's program, "Marijuana: Weeding out the hype," Miller said she hopes for full attendance.
Seating is limited to the first 24 people who register.
Nine have signed up so far, but none are parents, Miller said.
"They're representatives from professional organizations like Head Start, Quality Life Concepts and juvenile probation," she said.
"Usually, we don't get a lot of people," Miller added. "That's based solely, I think, on apathy."
