Escambia County and Santa Rosa counties have similar percentages of middle and high school students abusing depressants, pain relievers, amphetamines and steriods over the past 30 days, according to the 2010 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. And Santa Rosa County has had random drug testing policy for students in sports since 1997.
The middle schoolers in Santa Rosa are slightly worse in every category but depressants and steriods (which is an identical 0.3%). At the high school level, Escambia has greater abuse of pain relievers and Santa Rosa has more amphetamine abuse.
Both Santa Rosa and Escambia are above the state averages
| Depressants | |||
| Escambia | S. Rosa | State | |
| Middle School | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| High School | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.4 |
| Pain Relievers | |||
| Escambia | S. Rosa | State | |
| Middle School | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.2 |
| High School | 5.7 | 4.8 | 3.4 |
| Amphetamines | |||
| Escambia | S. Rosa | State | |
| Middle School | 0.7 | 2.0 | 0.6 |
| High School | 3.6 | 5.2 | 1.4 |
| Steroids | |||
| Escambia | S. Rosa | State | |
| Middle School | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| High School | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 |