Youth Drug Use at a Five Year Low, New Survey Shows

prnewswire ^ | Sept 6, 2007 | Office of National Drug Control Policy

[vietvet67]

25 Percent Drop in Marijuana Use by Teen Boys More Youths Starting Drug Use with Painkillers Than Marijuana; Prescription Drug Abuse Remains a Concern

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Overall illicit drug use among teens ages 12-17 is at a five year low, according to the largest and most comprehensive study of drug use in the United States, released today. But when it comes to youth, nonmedical use of painkillers continues to be an area of concern, with more recent initiates (2.2 million) than any illicit drug, reveals the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Since 2002, current illicit drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds is down from 11.6 percent (2002) to 9.8 percent (2006), marking a cumulative decrease of 16 percent. In that same time period, current marijuana use also decreased 18 percent (from 8.2 percent in 2002 to 6.7 percent in 2006). The decline in marijuana use was particularly pronounced in male youths, from 9.1 percent in 2002 to 6.8 percent in 2006, or a decrease of 25 percent. Abuse of prescription drugs among youth, however, continues to be an area of concern. Nonmedical use of painkillers was the illicit drug use category with the largest number of recent initiates among persons aged 12 or older (2.2 million). According to the study, seven million persons aged 12 or older used prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically in the past month. Of these, 5.2 million used painkillers, a 10 percent increase from 2005 (4.7 million). And, among persons aged 12 or older who used painkillers nonmedically in the past 12 months, 55.7 percent reported that they obtained the drugs from "a friend or relative for free."

[NativeNewYorker]

drug use among teens ages 12-17 is at a five year low

Bush will no doubt try to take credit for the results of Clinton's excellent drug policies. /sarc

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

1.8% or so - within the margin of error.

[DoughtyOne]

Isn’t it interesting this drop in drug use by kids seems to have come about just as soon as the President of the United States, who joked about his own drug use, left office?

Nancy said, “Just say no!” The MSM and liberals hooted and hollered. None the less drug use went down significantly. Then the Dope from Hope came along and not too surpisingly, drug us shot up.

“Ah, I didn’t inhale...” “Well, I tried it and it didn’t work for me. If it had I’d have probably tried it again.”

And we need his wife? Lika a spare...

[jackieaxe]

The ONDCP has got to keep cranking out these questionable numbers to justify their existence. Of course, if the numbers went up they’d be telling us they need even more money to spread around to all their drug warrior friends.

[uncbob]

That include use of alcohol by college frat members

[Murray the R]

The ONDCP has got to keep cranking out these questionable numbers to justify their existence. Of course, if the numbers went up they’d be telling us they need even more money to spread around to all their drug warrior friends.

Of course. Heck, drugs weren't declared a problem until the end of Prohibition threatened bureacrats with having to find real jobs.

[TKDietz]

Something funky is going on with the numbers. The changed the survey in 2002 and said you shouldn’t compare previous data with data from 2002 on. Ever since then, not only has current drug use been dropping, but the percentage of people who have ever tried drugs is dropping too. There will be a couple of million or so who try marijuana every year and lots of older folks dying off who grew up before marijuana became popular and therefore never tried it, but still somehow the percentage of Americans who admit having ever smoked marijuana keeps dropping. According to this new survey less than 40% of American admit having ever tried marijuana. That’s the first time in years it’s been that low. That’s impossible. It can’t be. If you look at the marijuana use by detailed age category tables over the years you will see huge drops in the numbers of people admitting they ever tried it. On the 2002 NSDUH apparently 62% of 21 year olds admitted to having tried marijuana. A year later on the 2003 survey only 58.3% of 22 year old persons admitted to having tried marijuana. Close to 200,000 fewer of these people who were 21 the year before had ever smoked marijuana? Did all these folks just die before the next survey? No, even if we account for every death and say every one of them was one of those who had tried marijuana the numbers still wouldn’t add up. In 2004 only 52.6% of 23 year olds admitted to having tried pot before. These are the kids who would have been 22 in 2003 and 21 in 2002. In 2002 more than 62% admitted to having tried marijuana, and by 2004 less than 53% had tried it? In 2005 it went up to 55.8%, but by 2006 only 53.8% of these young folks who would then be 25 admitted to having tried marijuana. This is screwy. Most people who are going to try marijuana will generally do it by the time they turn 21, but a few more will try it in the years before they turn 25. We should see a slight increase every year from 21 through 25 in the number of people who have tried it, not a nine point drop over five years.

Compare the numbers on the NSDUH over the past few years and you’ll see a lot of this crap. Fewer people are admitting that they’ve even used drugs in the first place, either that or they are boosting the total pool of people they are going from to make the percentage of people using drugs look smaller. Something fishy is going on.