MENOMINEE, MICH. – A 20–year effort to curb youth substance use in Marinette and Menominee counties is paying off, according to leaders of the Communities That Care Coalition and Healthy Youth, its youth division.
Drawing on nearly two decades of data from sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th graders across all 12 school districts in the two counties, the coalition’s latest findings show steady declines in alcohol, nicotine, marijuana and prescription drug use among local youth.
“We continue to see a decrease in 30-day use of alcohol, nicotine products, marijuana and prescription drug use in our youth,” Karianne Lesperance, director of prevention services for the Menominee Intermediate School District, said. “Availability of substances also continues to go down.”
Those numbers don’t move on their own. Behind them is a data work group that collects and analyzes the survey results, identifies top priorities and turns those into an action plan the coalition then brings to the community.
One of the clearest messages from both the data and youth focus groups is the outsized role parents play in preventing substance use.
“The number one protective factor is if a parent is telling their child the dangers of using and their clear rules about using,” Lesperance said.
“Data shows that actually their likelihood of using is very low.”
When teens are asked why they don’t use, the most common answer is simple — their parents told them not to and talked to them about the dangers.
However, the flip side is also true. For several survey cycles, the number one way youth report getting alcohol is directly from parents — either provided outright or left accessible in unlocked fridges and cabinets.
“Parents providing alcohol to youth has continuously been the number one way kids are reporting getting their alcohol,” Lesperance said.
Youth also say adults often wouldn’t notice if some went missing.
In response, the coalition has ramped up parent education events and now offers free fridge and cabinet locks, urging adults to monitor and secure alcohol at home.
While overall use is trending downward, not all graphs look equally clean. The coalition is particularly watchful of cannabis.
“Perception of risk, especially among cannabis, even though it’s still trending in our favor… that graph isn’t as clean,” Lesperance said.
“The messaging around legalization and products can be confusing to kids, so their perception of risk on cannabis is not very high.”
Teens report they’re not getting clear education about marijuana from school or parents, and many don’t see it as harmful. That matters because perception of risk and perception of peer use strongly influence behavior.
“When they think everybody’s using, then they may also use, because they may feel left out… that could be a pressure for them to be using,” Lesperance said.
Two years ago, youth overestimated marijuana use by 20 to 30 percentage points. Since then, the coalition has pushed hard to share accurate numbers — showing that most teens are not using.
“Now this time around, our student surveys and our youth focus groups are actually almost spot on with the reported use,” Lesperance said.
“They are now viewing that not everybody is using marijuana, so that was huge.”
To address youth reports that alcohol is easy to get at community events, the coalition recently piloted ID scanners at the Marinette County Fair and the Peshtigo Historical Day event.
The scanners flag fake IDs, expired IDs and ‘pass-back’ IDs — when someone over 21 buys alcohol and hands off their ID or drinks to someone underage.
“They used them at the fair this year and said they worked wonderfully… they would use them again next year,” Lesperance said.
Their efforts complement ongoing compliance checks with local retailers, in partnership with health departments and law enforcement, to reinforce ID-checking and prevent illegal sales.
Alongside limiting access, the coalition is working to expand positive opportunities for youth — sports, clubs, music, religious and community activities.
“Kids who are reporting being involved in one of those things or more are reporting less likely to be using,” Lesperance said.
The goal is to help each young person “find what gives you your why, to make good decisions and be a part of a positive alternative activity.”
Youth focus groups also reveal the stresses students are carrying — from family issues to academics — and how some turn to substances to cope. That feedback is directly shaping local prevention strategies.
“We use everything they tell us back into our logic model, into our action plan and strategies moving forward to make sure we’re being effective,” Lesperance said.
The coalition’s long-term strategy is deliberately incremental.
“Our action plan every year is about a 2% change we like to see within the next two years,” Lesperance said.
Over time, that steady approach has delivered big results: a roughly 20% reduction in 30-day alcohol use among 10th graders over nearly 20 years.
“Just keep chipping away at it,” Lesperance said.
Even as new drug trends emerge, the Communities That Care model gives local leaders a roadmap: listen to youth, follow the data, engage parents and keep the whole community pulling in the same direction.
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