Posted on 12/15/2009 6:04:54 AM PST by markomalley
Cigarette smoking is out but pot use is in among the nation's teenagers, who also report a higher use of prescription painkillers and a waning perception about the risk of illicit drugs, a federal study on students has found.
As more states move to approve medical marijuana, and pot legalization and decriminalization become more mainstream in the national discussion, teens seem more accepting of pot use, according to a study released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The national survey, "Monitoring the Future," was conducted by the University of Michigan and queried 47,097 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades.
It found that one-fifth of seniors - 20.6 percent - reported using marijuana in the previous month, up from 18.3 percent in 2006. High school sophomores' pot smoking rose from 13.8 percent in 2008 to 15.9 percent this year, statistics that researchers said should capture the nation's attention.
"So far, we have not seen any dramatic rise in marijuana use, but the upward trending of the past two or three years stands in stark contrast to the steady decline that preceded it for nearly a decade," said Lloyd Johnston, who serves as principal investigator on the Michigan study, which has tracked teen drug use since 1975.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
So, they've got that going for them.
I have a college friend who has wasted the last 35 years of his life around it. Don’t tell me it is harmless.
With all the taxes on tobacco it’s probably cheaper to smoke the weed.
The law of intended consequences.
No, that is not a typo.
Pot does not harm your body the way alcohol does. With teens going to jail because they are driving and drinking I think alot more just do pot. Also, I think the drinking age of 21 has alot to do with the rise in pot smoking. Where I live, the teenagers can get pot easier than they can get a beer.
I expect them to legalize pot the same week they outlaw smoking.
Exactly right! Tobacco taxes driving kids to pot, another successful gov’t intervention program!
I'll never forget my freshman year in college (72-73). I knew a guy who smoked pot every night for about six weeks, and saw the changes he went through. It wasn't pretty, and he was gone after mid-terms.
What do they expect? The make cigarettes more expensive and raise the legal age while at the same time they are moving towards legalizing pot “for medical reasons”. It sends the message the pot must be safe if it can be used as medicine.
Is he a congressmen or a senator today?
LOL...no, but almost nothing surprises me anymore.
“Pot does not harm your body the way alcohol does.”
Sure of that are you? I wouldn’t be so sure. Users can and do develp psychosis issues from it’s use. I saw some prime examples of this in college decades ago.
Imagine someone who consumed alcohol to the point of getting drunk every night for six weeks straight, and I would imagine the effects would be similar.
The issue isn’t with marijuana (or alcohol, etc.) but with people not being responsible with its use. There are countless activities which, when done in excess, can impact one’s life in a negative way (gambling, drinking, other drug use, video game playing, sex, etc.). Harmless or not, we should be allowed to engage in such activities provided that it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others. More government control is not the answer.
>>>Also, I think the drinking age of 21 has alot to do with the rise in pot smoking. Where I live, the teenagers can get pot easier than they can get a beer.
Possibly, but pot use was much higher in the 70s when the drinking age was 18 in many states. To put the recent upward trend in perspective, past-month marijuana use by high school seniors is still only about half as common as it was in 1979.
Couldn't agree with you more. I'd like to see the states explicitly apply the 10th Amendment on a wide range of issues, pot legalization being one of those. I have yet to be convinced otherwise that this was the intent of the Founding Fathers. There's no doubt they were more fearful of the type of federal government we have today.
There was an ever present odor of marijuana in my college dormitory for four years. There were a few who overdid it, and paid the price. Anecdotally speaking, the other 99.5% did not exhibit any negative effects from their limited use.
I am sure, psychosis is/was probably present before the person starting smoking pot. Don’t compare the town drunk or stoner, to the average person who smoke’s pot every now and then, or has a beer or two at night.
Well, that settles it, then. All forms of prohibitive state and federal law should be based on whatever you experienced in college "decades ago". The rest of us will just have to "normalize" ourselves based on your weighty experience, and tango sierra if we don't like it.
I’m not sayin it’s harmless. Alcohol damages your liver, and long term abuse just destroys your body. I really don’t know if pot can cause the kind of damage that the abuse of alcohol does.
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