Marijuana use up among U.S. teens, University of Michigan report says
Smoking marijuana is becoming even more popular among U.S. teens, and they have cut down on smoking cigarettes, binge drinking and using methamphetamines, according to a federal survey released Monday.
But more teenagers reported getting high on prescription pain pills and attention-deficit drugs, according to 8th, 10th and 12th graders surveyed by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The increase of teens smoking pot is partly because the national debate over medical use of marijuana can make the drug's use seem safer to teenagers, researchers said. In addition to marijuana, fewer teens also view prescription drugs and Ecstasy as dangerous, which often means more could use those drugs in the future, said White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske.
The "continued erosion in youth attitudes and behavior toward substance abuse should give pause to all parents and policy-makers," Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in remarks prepared for his Monday speech at the National Press Club in Washington..
"These latest data confirm that we must redouble our efforts to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to preventing and treating drug use," he said.
Marijuana use, while not as prevalent as the peak levels in the late 1990s, has edged up. According to the study of 47,097 students, 20.6 percent 12th graders said they used pot within the past month, compared with 19.4 percent in 2008 and 18.3 percent in 2006.
Among 10th graders, pot use in the past month rose to 15.9 percent this year from 13.8 percent in 2008.
"The upward trending of the past 2 or 3 years stands in stark contrast to the steady decline that preceded it for nearly a decade," said Lloyd Johnston, from the University of Michigan, who has directed the annual survey since it started in 1975.
The percentage of 8th graders who saw a "great risk" in occasionally smoking marijuana fell from 50.5 percent in 2004 to 44.8 percent this year. The perceived danger of using Ecstasy once or twice fell among 8th graders, from 42.5 percent in 2004 to 26 percent in 2009.
"When the perception of the danger goes down, in the following years you see an increase in use," said National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow.
Volkow said teens falsely reason it's less dangerous to get high on prescription drugs "because they're endorsed by the medical community." But, she said, prescription narcotics like OxyContin and Vicodin are highly addictive and can act as gateways to heroin, a cheaper high.
Use rates of both prescription narcotics rose among this year's 10th graders, with 8.1 percent saying they had used Vicodin in the past year compared with 6.7 percent of the same grade in 2008. For OxyContin, the figure rose to 5.1 percent from 3.6 percent.
Recreational use of the attention-deficit drug Ritalin was lower than 5 years ago. But the attention-deficit drug Adderall, appearing for the first time in this year's survey, showed use rates similar to those for Ritalin at its peak, which for 12th graders was around 5 percent.
By all measures, alcohol remained the most widely used illicit substance among teens, with 43.5 percent of 12th graders reporting taking a drink in the past month. That's a little change from last year, but down from 52.7 percent in 1997 — a year that showed high percentages of substance abuse. All 3 grades reported drops in binge drinking for 2004-2009.
Cigarette use patterns showed a continuation of the dramatic drop from a decade ago. In 1997, 19.4 percent of 8th graders reported smoking within the previous month. That fell to 6.8 percent last year and 6.5 percent this year. The rate for 12th graders dropped from 36.5 percent in 1997 to 20.1 percent this year.
"There's not going to be much further improvement unless policies change," such as higher taxes to discourage kids on a budget and further limits on public smoking, Johnston said.
Only 2.4 percent of this year's 12th graders said they'd ever used methamphetamine, down from 2.8 percent in 2008 and 8.2 percent in 1999.
Comments
Jake C
Tue, Dec 15, 2009 : 8:16 p.m.
@Tru2Blu76: I have no idea what your point is besides "I hate the Michigan State Government." Is that about right?. I'd happily agree with you that the government should care far less about what citizens do in the privacy of their own homes, but it has every right to regulate what businesses do when it comes to the welfare of the general public.
Woman in Ypsilanti
Tue, Dec 15, 2009 : 4:24 p.m.
I always think it is funny when people get upset about teenagers using pot. If I had kids, I would give them as much info as I could about drugs and I would hope that they would make informed decisions about what to put into their bodies. I would be relieved if they chose pot over other things like alcohol. Respect for the law is one thing but sometimes the law is wrong and following laws just for the sake of following laws is not a way to have a healthy society. Some laws are meant to be broken and marijuana prohibition falls into that category. I would let my kids drink alcohol too, fwiw. I was allowed to have wine with dinner when I was a teenager and it took away the whole "forbidden fruit" aspect of it. I almost never drank when out and about with my friends.
David Bardallis
Tue, Dec 15, 2009 : 1:25 a.m.
Sounds good to me. Ain't we had enough of the nanny state yet?
johnnya2
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 6:56 p.m.
I am glad teens have cut down on alcohol and moved to the safest drug ever available, marijuana. To those who preach respect for the law, I say, I have no respect for a system that picks which drugs are acceptable. Alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeine are far more dangerous.
cd_booth
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 4:49 p.m.
It concerns me that the majority of teens think ecstasy is safer than marijuana. One hit of ecstasy and you could die. Also, the explanation that prescription drug use is okay "because they're endorsed by the medical community" is just absurd.
ronn oneal
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 4:40 p.m.
True weed is illegal for the public its only for medical. Fine! I see more people ran into trees and poles not counting car with deaths, caused by drivers that had been drinking. Im sure they have some from smoking weed but not nearly enough to compare the two. I dont want my kids doing either but I would take my losses with the lesser evil of the two. GOD MADE WEED, MAN MADE ALCOHOL, WHO DO YOU PUT YOUR TRUST INTO........
Atticus F.
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 4:10 p.m.
@djm12652, You might also want to teach your kids about right and wrong as well. And that the law can sometimes be unjust. After all, We have a history of unjust laws in this country like slavery, Jim Crow, Segregation Ect.. Thats why I suggest teaching your children about morality, protest, and right vs. wrong, as apposed to teaching blind devotion to the law.
djm12652
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 4:02 p.m.
As a parent, I would like to think that other parents have instilled enough values in their children for them to realize that pot is illegal at any age, buying cigarettes under the age of 18 is illegal, lest we even get into the serious drugs and underage drinking. It's called respect for one's self as well as the law.
Blue Marker
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 3:14 p.m.
"Smoking marijuana is becoming even more popular among U.S. teens, and they have cut down on smoking cigarettes, binge drinking and using methamphetamines, according to a federal survey released Monday." Ideally you would like teens to wait until they're adults before making a decision like that. However, I'd rather they smoke pot than binge drink or use meth.
Atticus F.
Mon, Dec 14, 2009 : 3:14 p.m.
Teens have been smoking marijuana and drinking since I was in highschool. This is not a new phenomenon.