Teenagers in Amador County use drugs and alcohol at a higher rate than their peers in many other parts of the state, according to the Capital Region Healthy Futures Project.

The report also notes that the county has limited job opportunities, too few jobs that pay a living wage, too few child care facilities and one of the highest rates for accidental deaths in the region.

The new study, which foresees the county's total population increasing by 29.6 percent, or 10,495 more residents by 2040, is chockablock with interesting tidbits.

More than a third of those residents are over 55, and by the year 2020, senior citizens are expected to account for nearly 40 percent of the county's total population.

Nina Machado, executive director of First 5 Amador, presented the United Way-sponsored report to the county's board of supervisors last week.

Supervisors expressed surprise particularly at the high rates of drinking and drug use among teenagers. According to the report, 20 percent of seventh-graders said they had been offered drugs on campus during the previous year, more than double the rate for some counties in the region and by far the highest rate in the nine-county region that was subject of the report.

Statewide, the report notes, only 13 percent of seventh-graders said they'd been offered drugs on campus.

Alcohol and drugs are widely used by Amador County teens, the report said, with 74 percent of the 11th-graders and 57 percent of the ninth-graders saying they had used or tried alcohol. Those rates compare to 67 percent statewide for 11th-graders and 52 percent for ninth-graders.

Teenagers in Amador County are also more likely than their counterparts in the other counties included in the study to either drive a car after drinking or be a passenger in a car where the driver had been drinking.

"Alcohol at parties is just rampant out there," said Richard Forster, chairman of the board of supervisors, who represents District 2. "And a lot of it is sanctioned by parents."

District 4 Supervisor Louis Boitano said the report highlights the need to "Put our money into education, education, education."

Cigarettes were another problem for teens, with 18 percent of 11th grade respondents saying they had smoked in the past 30 days. "This was one of the highest rates in the nine-county region," according to the report. Nine percent of seventh-graders and 12 percent of ninth-graders admitted to smoking cigarettes.

Expanding on that category, the report shows that 38 percent of the high school juniors reported being high from drugs at least once, with 22 percent saying that they had been high seven or more times from using drugs. Among ninth-graders, 28 percent reported being high from drugs at least once, while 16 percent reported doing it seven or more times. "This is the highest rate among the nine counties in the region and is higher than California overall (20 percent) for the same grade level," according to the report.

The kids also admitted to excessive drinking, with 16 percent of 11th graders, 13 percent of ninth graders and 3 percent of seventh graders admitting to drinking until they were "really drunk."

Weapons on campus were also reported as a more serious problem in Amador County, with 46 percent of the 11th-graders saying they had seen someone with a weapon on campus at least once during the previous year and 32 percent saying they had seen someone with a weapon two or more times. Statewide, only 34 percent of 11th-graders reported a similar phenomenon.

High rates were also reported by the younger children, with 48 percent of ninth-graders and 42 percent of seventh-graders saying they had seen someone on campus with a weapon during the previous year.

Over the last eight years, Amador County was the only county among the nine in the survey (which included Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties), where the FBI Index crime rate has increased. The rate of violent crimes in Amador County has gradually increased from 23.4 per 1,000 residents in 1996 to 33.87 in 2004.

An average of 20 people died from accidents each year between 2002 and 2004, according to the report, giving Amador County one of the highest rates of death due to unintentional injury in the nine-county region.

The county also had the lowest number of live births in the region, with an average of 271 per year. In 2004, 31 (or 11.8 percent) of those babies were born to teenage mothers between the ages of 15 and 19.

Child care for those children once they are born is problematic, as licensed child care is available for only 24 percent of children whose parents work, according to the report, and only 2 percent of those child care services are available for infants.

The report says that Amador County families struggle to make ends meet, with 75 percent of the job opportunities in the county paying a median wage below what was considered self-sufficient. The standard for the county in 2003 for a family with two adults, an infant and a preschooler was calculated at $41,437 in total income, while for a single parent with an infant and a preschooler, the self-sufficiency wage was considered to be $34,851.

Throughout the metropolitan area that includes Amador and adjacent counties, more than 31 percent of the projected job openings between 2002 and 2012 are predicted to be for cashiers, retail sales, waiters and waitresses, food preparation and service and elementary school teachers.

Health of the county's residents was also considered. The report states that 53.5 percent of teens and adults in the county are overweight or obese, compared with 51.4 percent for the nine-county region as a whole.

Machado said she thinks the study will be a helpful tool, particularly for people or groups seeking grants. Mike Prizmich and Jack Mitchell partnered with Machado in helping to compile the report.

After discussing the implications of the report, particularly those involving teenage drinking and drug use, the supervisors voted unanimously to accept the report and thanked Machado for her hard work.