Tess Freeman / The Bulletin file photoStudents from Mountain View High School dance at their prom in 2015. Mountain View, Summit, La Pine and Bend high schools all use Breathalyzers to test blood alcohol content before students walk through the doors to dances like prom or homecoming.

Bend-La Pine students heading into dances like homecoming face pretty similar tests to gauge whether they’ve been drinking alcohol.

Mountain View, Summit, La Pine and Bend high schools all use Breathalyzers to test blood alcohol content before students walk through the doors. But what about other drugs, like marijuana, that can’t be tested for on-the-spot?

Administrators at Bend-La Pine’s four high schools explained: It’s basically about looking for telltale signs like bloodshot eyes or the distinct smell of weed.

Alice DeWittie, Summit’s principal, said her school has used Breathalyzers for years.

“At this point, kids know they’re going to have to blow into the Breathalyzer,” she said. All students who enter the dance blow into a device, regardless of whether they are showing signs of being under the influence.

DeWittie thinks the Breathalyzer is a deterrent for drinking, at least before the dance. She knows drinking could still occur after, or that kids may try to skirt the Breathalyzer by smoking marijuana or taking an edible instead. But school staffers are on the lookout for signs that kids may be stoned.

Mountain View High School also checks every student’s blood alcohol content before every dance, and has for years.

“Our students know that it’s the norm,” Katie Legace, Mountain View’s principal said, adding they look for signs of whether students are high just as they do on any school day.

Bend High’s principal, Christopher Reese, said his high school also has been using Breathalyzers at least as long as he’s been there, for 13 years.

At Bend High, too, every student who walks through the door for a dance is tested for blood alcohol content, regardless of behavior.

Reese referenced the school district’s administrative regulation that allows schools to test students for alcohol before attending activities that are considered to be a privilege, like dances.

“Kids know ahead that they’ll be Breathalyzed,” Reese said.

It’s hard to tell whether marijuana use among his students has increased, he said.

“It’s something that when the law passed (to allow those 21 and older to use recreational marijuana), what worried us is the access that kids have now to it, especially edibles,” Reese said.

DeWittie expressed similar concerns with recreational weed’s legalization: “How do families handle where parents are smoking marijuana, do they lock it up?” she said.

Matt Montgomery, principal at La Pine High School, feels the legalization of recreational marijuana probably has made it easier for teens to get their hands on it.

“I think that has given kids more access, with weed being legalized,” he said.

At La Pine High School, Breathalyzers are usually only used on students before they enter prom, and not every kid is checked: They test kids who are showing signs of intoxication, but also choose a few at random. That dance, attended by only juniors and seniors, seems to be the one students are most likely to drink before, he said.

In general, though, most La Pine High students steer away from using drugs, including alcohol, around dances, he said.

“Our kids have done a great job,” he said.

But he’s not blind to the fact that drug and alcohol use occurs among minors.

“I know that teens drink alcohol and smoke weed,” he said.

Vicky Pride, a drug educator in Bend-La Pine Schools, said that’s an important realization to have.

It’s hard to measure whether drug use has gone up or down since marijuana’s legalization she said, and she thinks looking at it that way misses an important point.

“I think what we miss is, this community, like any community in the United States, has a problem with drugs and alcohol in our youth,” she said.

Pride generally works only with students who have already “made some bad decisions when it comes to saying no” — ones who principals, teachers or other staff recommend to her. One of the things Pride helps students work on is how to refuse offers of drugs.

She also knows that kids don’t just use drugs to experiment and have fun, they can also use them to self-medicate for things like anxiety and depression.

“It’s like saying, ‘I know you’re having a difficult time, what else can you do if you don’t feel good because this isn’t the best option,’” Pride said as an example of what she talks about with kids.

Pride knows “the level of denial in the communities” hasn’t changed. “It’s just weed,” or “it’s just alcohol,” are popular to hear from at least some adults in any community, she said.

At Mountain View, Legace agreed, it’s hard to gauge whether use has increased, but she thinks attitudes about marijuana have relaxed.

“I think the legalization of marijuana in our state has desensitized the use of marijuana,” Legace said, adding, “I think that’s an unfortunate side effect … I don’t think they look at is as a big of a risk as they should.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325,

kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com