How Many Teens Actually Smoke, Drink, or Do Drugs?
It’s natural to be curious about your peers—especially when it comes to things that we know can be dangerous, like alcohol and drug use. You’ve probably heard rumors of kids drinking beer at a party or may have a friend who smokes cigarettes.
You may wonder how many teens actually smoke, drink, or do drugs. It’s a question we hear frequently from teens. During NIDA’s 2011 Drug Facts Chat Day, students from the around the country asked NIDA scientists questions such as:
- “How many teens smoke every year?”
- “Has the number of people who abuse drugs increased or decreased in the past 5 years? And why?”
- “What percent of teens has tried drugs?”
- “How many kids are doing drugs?”
In December 2011, NIDA released the 2011 Monitoring the Future Study, and it seems that more teens are making better decisions when it comes to smoking and alcohol use, but not so much when it comes to using marijuana and abusing prescription drugs.
Here’s a glimpse at the most recent trends in teen drug and alcohol use.
Cigarette and Alcohol Use at Historic Low
Teen smoking has declined in all three grades included in the study—grades 8, 10, and 12. Still, almost 19 percent of 12th graders reported current (past-month) cigarette use.
This decline shows that more teens realize the harm smoking does to your body and are making the decision not to start. Also, teens’ attitudes about smoking have changed. They increasingly prefer to date nonsmokers and believe smoking to be a dirty habit.
Likewise, among nearly all grades, trends over the past 5 years showed significant decreases in alcohol use—including first-time use, occasional use, daily use, and binge drinking. As with smoking, this decline may be the result of more teens understanding the risk of drinking alcohol and disapproving of this behavior.
Marijuana Use Continues To Rise
Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana use is increasing. Among 12th graders, 36.4 percent reported using marijuana at least once in the past year, up from 31.5 percent 5 years ago. This accompanies a decrease in the number of 12th graders who perceive that smoking marijuana is harmful. For example, only 22.7 percent of high school seniors saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally, compared to 25.9 percent 5 years ago.
Of course, we know the risks: marijuana can affect memory, judgment, and perception, and it can harm a teen’s developing brain.
Prescription Drug Abuse Remains Steady
Prescription drug abuse hasn’t changed much since 2010. Abuse of the opioid painkiller Vicodin and the nonmedical use of Adderall and Ritalin, stimulants meant to treat ADHD, remained about the same as last year. Also, the abuse of the opioid painkiller OxyContin remained steady for the past 5 years across all 3 grades surveyed.
To drive this trend downward, NIDA recently launched PEERx, a prescription drug abuse awareness campaign that gives teens science-based information about the harmful effects of prescription drug abuse on the brain and body.
When teens understand the health risks of abusing drugs, they do it less. So, tell us, how would you convince your peers that marijuana use and prescription drug abuse are harmful?
These estimates come from the Monitoring the Future Study's national surveys of approximately 47,000 students in about 400 secondary schools each year. The survey was conducted in classrooms earlier this year. View all of the 2011 data.
Comments
Advices coming from your parents are very important factor to avoid this kind of habit. It's always a matter of guidance and support from your family. We have to talk to our children and discuss these issues that they may encounter. Showing them how much you really care will really help them to have a better future.
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i think its wrong to drink or do drugs.
its not goood and you can die very quickly from it, think before you do the actions your going to end up doing
@haley So glad you are so involved in sports and school, and have many friends. At 13, it may seem like you are on top of the world. Unfortunately, smoking and drinking tend to have serious health effects over time. In thinking about continued success in school and in life, it's important to consider that your brain and body will continue to develop well into your 20s, and that cigarettes and alcohol can interfere with healthy development, learning and memory, and even how you relate to friends.
Check out some recent posts on SBB that you may find relevant:
Expectations and Alcohol: The Fun May Be in Your Head http://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/expectations-and-alcohol
Smoking: How It Primes the Brain for Addiction http://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/smoking-how-it-primes-brain-addiction
This is a sad news. :( "To drive this trend downward, NIDA recently launched PEERx, a prescription drug abuse awareness campaign that gives teens science-based information about the harmful effects of prescription drug abuse on the brain and body." is a joke?
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@Catalina Sima No joke. Visit the PEERx site at http://teens.drugabuse.gov/peerx/prescription-drug-facts/ and discover for yourself.
i think this is a very good article and i think that the amount of teens that do smoke, drink, or do drugs has increased. you hear kids walking through the hall way talking about the party or how they dont remember what happened because they were to wasted or high to remember. in my opinion all three of those things are very bad for you.
Smoking is definitely a dirty habbit, it is wonder why people actually take this habbit in the first place and the rise in marjiuana usage is undescribable
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smoking is not good for the human body.
Smoking is a bad habit and when teens got that habit it becomes worst for them. Save your teen from smoking because this is an addiction which can cause even death. [commercial link removed, per guidelines]
Drags addiction is one of the social problem nowadays . I think it is same as to kill him\her by him\her self.I suggest all classes people to avoid this bad habit.
marijuana isn't bad.
take a look at the facts:
Annual deaths from:
Tobacco: 435,000.
poor diet/exercise: 365,000
alcohol: 85,000
prescription drugs: 32,000
vehicle crashes: 26,347
homicide: 20,308
aspirin: 7,600
peanuts: 10.
marijuana: 0.
it's safer than peanuts!
As for it making your brain slow and killing brain cells, when I smoke, I feel that I can think better than when I'm not high.
Why is alcohol legal when it kills people, and destroys families? Marijuana isn't harmful at all.
The only reason people think that it's bad is because society makes it look bad.
@amymullis Marijuana does have several known harmful effects. Please visit http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/facts_mj1.php for more information
I hate to say this but just in our streets alone, gangs of boys smoking weed and doing drugs are a day-to-day occurrence. They aren't even afraid of the police anymore. With these kind of kids as the future of the nation, I don't know how else we can survive another decade or two...
NIDAminds, unfortunately NIDA is not a source for accurate information about drugs, especially marijuana. Their "facts" seem to be provided by the DEA, not physicians.
@phk Actually, our information comes mostly from researchers – both scientists and physicians – but we do analyze, use and share information from numerous other reliable sources as well – including the DEA.
IT IS JUST SOOOOOO SAD THESE DAYS OUR HILDREN INE TOOMUCH MESS!!!
i agree with amymullis 100%. there has been no reported deaths from just smoking marijuana. so why is it illeagl? in my opinion the should make alcohol and tobacco illeagle. this is bs how everyone is spazzing out about marijuana
Save your teen from smoking because this is an addiction which can cause even death.[commercial link removed, per guidelines]
marijuana has no harmful side effects.
Get a clue.
It is really bad for you! yellow finger nails, wrinkles! urgh!!!
who would want that at so young age?!!!!
im only 12 and im already doing this xx (i dont smoke im way way against it) I DO NOT SMOKE
Tobacco and other similar lobies are simply to strong! They buy anyone who tries to really fight against it! There is not much we can do about it!
Regards from Sarajevo from [commercial link removed, per guidelines] (auto oglasi) team
Marijuana is not bad it already came of this earth the only thing bad about it is all the crime that goes on about it and that is because it is illegal if you legalize it your problems will be gone and there will be less crime. This society just makes it look bad when really people don't even know that much about it. Don't conform to anybodys standards
smoking is bad as drugs. marijuana is bad it has more then 400 chemicals. yuck
smoking is bad so is drugs. marijuana is bad it has more then 400 chemicals. yuck
A coommon nickname for marijuana is cookies or feeding the turrtles!
@tizzlebizzle, Says an enthusiastic pot smoker.
This in definitely incorrect, the people who participated in the survey definitely lied. As a 10th grader myself I can tell you for sure that the amount of people smoking cigarettes, drinking, abusing prescription drugs or smoking marijuana is much higher. I know hundreds of people who do all of the above, if not more. I refuse to do any of these things, but a lot of my good friends to and it makes me extremely angry. These things are a huge problem and they're getting worse, not better and kids are doing them at younger and younger ages now. I got to a private school that has a good reputation but almost all of the people in the high school do every one of these things in this article. There are even middle schoolers doing these things as young as 6th grade. People find ways around the rules and have more creative ways of getting high such as weed brownies, that's probably the most inconspicuous way they do it.
I predict that about one-third of all the teens either do drugs, smoke, or drink. These are really bad for your body especially if you do more than one of these at once. Each one can lead to your death. Whether its drinking and driving, increasing your chance of lung cancer by smoking, or an overdose on drugs leading to a heart attack. Nothing good comes out of doing the following above. I highly recommend that teens do not do any of these horrible things.
I don't understand why so many teens do drugs. It is an unhealthy habit and needs to be stopped. Teens don't need to have to do drugs at such a young age because it affects the way you learn. I bet tons of kids loose control due to drugs and end up ruining their life at such a young age. I'm surprised the rate of teens doing drugs isn't higher. Such a shame.
@Ella Thanks for your comment – lots of issues going on here. Most importantly, you are right to be concerned about synthetic marijuana, molly and bath salts – we know very little about them, but what we have seen so far is that they can be VERY dangerous, even deadly. Even with very small doses. Despite what some are being told, these are NOT safe alternatives to other drugs.
Now to marijuana. There is substantial evidence that marijuana can cause harm. You may have no problems that you know of now, but just like cigarette smoke, the toxic effects can build in the body and may take a long time to show up – in others, it may take less time. What kinds of effects and how soon they occur may be different for each person.
Most people who are smart want to stay smart and not introduce foreign substances into their brains. Yes, some components of marijuana have been found to have medicinal value – and there are FDA-approved medicines that are available, with more on the way. But medical marijuana is for people who are sick, such as patients with cancer or AIDS who suffer from nausea or lack of appetite. Be careful about information you get from the internet – it’s sometimes hard to know what’s true and what’s not.
@anonymuous Responsible use is important, but in teens—with brains still developing—there really is no such thing. Drinking and smoking marijuana can create negative effects that multiply with how much, how often, and how long you smoke. There are many safer and healthier alternatives that you can use to relax and unwind. You do make an interesting point – it would be very useful to have more information related to when, where and how much students are using alcohol and drugs. The Monitoring the Future survey (of 47,000 teens in 400+ schools) does report numbers for those who use alcohol or marijuana daily and those who use it monthly or yearly. But it doesn’t provide the data you mention, which would be good to know.
Where do people do drugs though? It's part of my homework to research about "Teenage Drug Abuse" so I need to know where they do drugs. ???
@Anonymous ;D Our website for teens has lots of resources that can help you with your research. See http://teens.drugabuse.gov/.
Everybody for and against the use of marijuana should watch the movie "The Union" its very revealing on why people in our society "think" its bad. When really its completely harmless. There have been no recorded deaths from any medical institution from pot ever! I really hope that one day our society realizes that alcohol, ciggarettes and most prescription drugs should be illeagalized instead of marijuana. And to say that its addictive is wrong because people who get caught with it get the option to go " addictive clinics" or rehab, or prison, so they choose rehab which makes it seem addictive. Right now our society is corrupted and it desperately needs to change.
Thank You
There are even middle schoolers doing these things as young as 6th grade. People find ways around the rules and have more creative ways of getting high [removed, per guidelines], that’s probably the most inconspicuous way they do it. [commercial link removed, per guidelines]
Okay smoking is bad, but marijuana is a WHOLE other issue. Of course it's not good but its about as bad as caffeine. I'm a senior myself and I can tell you I know more truth about weed then a lot of people because I've researched it multiple times and I'm around people who smoke weed all the time. They are not bad kids, nor do they have any significant health problems. Anything you breathe other than air damages the brain so you can say its like pollution. Compared to cigs, weed does NOT cause cancer. I actually shadowed a top oncologist and got my facts. There are absolutely no deaths from weed. So please, before you guys bad talk marijuana, do the research. People go on about how bad it is, and it really isn't. I'm not encouraging it, but I do think it's unnecessary to misguide people about this "drug" by saying how "bad" it is.
First—and sorry for the broken record—people react differently to marijuana. Some people do experience side effects or addiction. Second, true that cigarettes have definitely been shown to cause cancer, BUT the jury is out on marijuana. In fact, you may have heard of the study that just came out (Sept 2012) showing a potential link between marijuana and testicular cancer. Here's a news story that highlights the findings: "Dude, it's your junk! Pot linked to testicular cancer" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48969102/ns/health-mens_health/t/dude-its-yo....
Many more studies need to be done before we can say that there definitely is a link, much less understanding other health complications, but the evidence here does make us stop and take note.
it's just pot. jeeze people get over it. i've never done pot, but i dont have a prob with it. it help pl.
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