It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which drugs teens abuse most. When I was a kid there was alcohol and weed, with alcohol holding a huge preference to weed and all other drugs combined.
No matter how hard we try to pound the evils of drugs and alcohol into the brains of our children, still substance use and abuse is a major issue. What is really scary is the drastic rise in the use of marijuana. And this isn’t just any cannabis, this stuff is extremely potent.
Pot has become the “in” drug among adolescents. Perhaps fewer respect how dangerous the drug as many states have legalized it for medicinal use.
According to a recent national study as reported by the Kansas City Star, teens believe marijuana is much less harmful than the adults advising them against its use portray.
In another study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that daily marijuana use among high school seniors hit a 30-year peak in 2011, even as the use of alcohol and cigarettes is falling off.
Further disturbing is that in 2011, twice as many 10th-graders reported smoking pot at some point during the month of the survey as did their counterparts 20 years ago: 17.6 percent versus 8.7 percent.
According to the Kansas City, MO newspaper, the good news is alcohol consumption is on the decline. In 2011, 27.2 percent in 2011 admitted to drinking beer, wine or spirits within a 30-day period — that’s two-thirds of what it was in 1991.
The bad news is marijuana use is skyrocketing faster than drinking is falling. Therefore, kids seem to be switching their choice of substances rather than opting to lead soberer lifestyles. What is needed are more online MIP classes.