Marijuana Use among Teens witnesses Sharp Decline
Posted by Sagar Satapathy on December 17, 2014.
A new study, 'Monitoring the Future Study: Trends in Prevalence of Various Drugs' published by University of Michigan and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has revealed that the alcohol and marijuana use among the teen has witnessed a sharp fall in 2014. The survey has taken into account 40,000 8th-graders, 10th-graders and 12-th graders.After an increase for the last five years, the marijuana use by students in all three grades has declined to 24% in 2014 as compared to 26% in 2013. Among the high school seniors, the marijuana users fell from 6.5% in 2013 to 5.8% in 2014. The fall is very significant, as many states are making efforts to legalize pot to prevent drug abuse among kids. The anti-marijuana activists may use this report to discourage the legalization process.
According to the survey, teen use of alcohol and cigarettes dropped to their lowest level since the study began in 1975. This is an interesting trend. If it continues in case of marijuana use too, anti-pot efforts will gain momentum. "There is a lot of good news in this year's results, but the problems of teen substance use and abuse are still far from going away," Lloyd
Johnston, the study's principal investigator, said.
Interestingly, Synthetic marijuana, chemical concoctions used to simulate a marijuana high, no longer remain on demand. They are being sold at convenience stores and gas stations. But, their sales have dropped significantly in 2014. 11% of 12th standard students were using the drugs in 2011. In 2014, the figure declined to 6%.
Use of all prescription drugs, including narcotic painkillers, sedatives and amphetamines, declined from 16% in 2013 to 14% in 2014 among 12th graders. Narcotic painkiller use dropped again from 7% in 2013 to 6% in 2014. However, Heroin use remained stable for teens. comments powered by Disqus
