Swampscott High student filmmakers address alcohol, drug use at school

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott High School students Zach Benson and Devyn Jaffe said that the months-long debate about the school’s new Chemical Health Policy inspired them to answer a basic question: does Swampscott High School have a drug and alcohol problem?”Most kids think we have a problem,” Jaffe said of the students’ findings. “But not a bigger problem than in any other town.”Best friends Jaffe and Benson, who will be seniors in the fall, filmed an eight-minute documentary as part of the Real to Reel Film School at Raw Art Works in Lynn.Both said that they knew the issue of drug and alcohol use was a big topic at school and in the community. According to interviews, 80 percent of students said they had tried or regularly used drugs and alcohol. But Jaffe and Benson said they were surprised by how much interest their documentary received from students.Approximately 80 students from different social groups responded to their Facebook request to be interviewed, Jaffe said. Forty-five students ultimately taped interviews, she said.Jaffe said that students were asked basic questions including if or how often they used drugs or alcohol, whether drug and alcohol use was a requirement of the social scene, whether they planned to continue using or not using drugs or alcohol and their opinions on the school’s chemical health policy.Interestingly, responses to the latter question never made it to the final cut.”We tried to keep it objective,” Jaffe said. “This is what happens; do you think we have a problem or not? You decide.”Benson agreed. “We wanted to show what goes on that people don’t know about,” he said.They said that the project revealed a lot about drug and alcohol use in Swampscott that they didn’t know about.Jaffe was surprised some Swampscott kids said they were using hard drugs. She was also surprised that kids who said they regularly binge drink – which the Center for Disease Control says usually corresponds to a man drinking five or more and a female drinking four or more drinks within two hours – believed that Swampscott High had a drug and alcohol problem. She thought that they would deny it.Benson was surprised that some people who said that they drink every weekend did so only to fit in.But at the same time, most students reported that good friends won’t criticize their decision to drink or not drink, Jaffe said.As for the chemical health policy, Jaffe said students reported several criticisms.She said that students generally disagreed with forcing parents to attend a meeting to sign the policy.She said that most students also felt it was unfair that the policy applied to a student’s conduct during the summer. Students also felt that it unfairly prohibited cigarette use, even for students who were older than 18.The policy was amended March 9, however, to prohibit “illegally” consuming chemicals.Also problematic, Jaffe said, was that students could be forced to attend counseling if they were found in the presence of alcohol or drugs.”That’s so dumb,” Jaffe said, explaining that her peers have served as designated drivers. “If you’re doing a good thing, you shouldn’t get in trouble.”The policy dictates that students who call “a parent, guardian or law enforcement representative” to assist for safety reasons will not get in trouble.But Jaffe and Benson also learned about the art of documentary film-making.”We had at least six hours of footage, and I was watching every interview and taking statistics,” said Benson.”He did the whole post production, it was really his project more than mine,” Jaffe noted.Jaffe suggested how to follow up on their project.”It would be cool if we could make a two-hour documentary – that would be fun to do, we need to go deeper into (the issue),” Jaffe said. Then she looked at Benson.”Maybe a 20-minute documentary,” she continued.