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Teens Smoking More Pot but Drinking Less

Annual study shows 4th straight increase in marijuana use

By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 14, 2011 2:30 PM CST

(Newser) – Pot smoking among teenagers is increasing while teen alcohol consumption has sunk to historic lows, according to a national survey. Of 47,000 American students surveyed, 36.4% of 12th-graders had used marijuana in the past year, up from 32% in 2007, as had 28.8% of 11th-graders and 12.5% of 8th-graders. One in 15 high school seniors smoked pot daily, and one in nine smoked "synthetic" pot at least once.

Among 12th-graders, 40% said they drank alcohol in the past 30 days, representing an all-time low for the poll that began in the 1970s. "One thing we've learned over the years is that when young people come to see a drug as dangerous, they're less likely to use it," the study's lead investigator tells AP. "That helps to explain why marijuana right now is rising, because the proportion of kids who see it as dangerous has been declining."

More teens are smoking pot regularly.
More teens are smoking pot regularly.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 110 comments
HarryBeaver
Dec 15, 2011 6:55 AM CST
Let's hope this correlates to a reduction in car crashes.
JackNelsonSteward
Dec 15, 2011 6:45 AM CST
Any step away from alcohol use is positive. Not a good idea, though, to be smoking pot ... or using alcohol, or any other psychoactive drugs ... while that brain is developing. Feed it food while it grows.  There's plenty of time for stoning once your physiology is all complete. Enjoy.
malcolmkyle
Dec 15, 2011 3:13 AM CST
Prohibition increases usage rates while legalized regulation restricts access to young people. Many of us have now finally wised up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation, which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco - two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to the absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.  There is an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. If you are not capable of understanding this connection, then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. Anybody 'halfway bright' and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding, that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to let legal businesses meet that demand.  No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer, only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?  If you support prohibition you've helped trigger the worst crime wave in history. If you support prohibition you've helped escalate the number of people on welfare who can't find employment due to their felony status.  If you support prohibition you've a helped create a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike. If you support prohibition you've helped to make these dangerous substances available in schools and prisons. If you support prohibition you've helped raise gang warfare to a level not seen since the days of alcohol bootlegging. If you support prohibition you've helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.  If you support prohibition you've helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent. If you support prohibition you've helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets. If you support prohibition you've helped to escalate Theft, Muggings and Burglaries. If you support prohibition you've helped to divert scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting your fellow citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property. If you support prohibition you've helped overcrowd the courts and prisons, thus making it increasingly impossible to curtail the people who are hurting and terrorizing others. If you support prohibition you've helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal. If you support prohibition then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, foreclosed homes, and the complete loss of the rule of law and the Bill of Rights.
 

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