Colorado Budget Proposal Cuts Youth Surveys On Drugs, Sex

DENVER (AP) — Colorado schoolchildren may not be asked about their drug use and sex habits in anonymous surveys any more. That's under a bipartisan budget proposal moving through the Legislature.

The budget draft introduced Monday cuts $745,000 to eliminate the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.

The anonymous survey has been done since 1991 and is used to chart risk behaviors such as smoking and drinking.

The survey has long rankled conservatives but is praised by health officials as the state's best tool to track youth marijuana use in the wake of legalization.

Republicans say the surveys invade student privacy.

Democrats say policy makers need to know as much as possible about risky youthful behaviors.

The youth-risk surveys could still be done with federal money, but state officials say the survey's future is unclear.