WASHINGTON – Marijuana remains popular with U.S. teenagers, with steady and even rising rates of use, according to a key federal survey.
This year’s data from the annual Monitoring the Future survey found that marijuana was the No. 1 drug used by students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades. About 35% of high school seniors said they smoked pot in the past year, consistent with 2011 usage. Daily use among seniors also stayed flat, at around 7%.
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Marijuana use remaind steady in U.S. teens, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Insitute on Drug Abuse, in releasing 2012 data from the Monitoring the Future survey.
Of concern is the declining number of seniors who view marijuana use as risky. Only 20% of seniors said occasional use was harmful, the lowest rate recorded since 1983. Higher numbers of 8th and 10th graders consider pot smoking to be risky, but those figures declined as well.
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said that teen perception of harm might be decreasing in part because of the ongoing debate over legalized medical marijuana and recent state efforts that decriminalized recreational use.
Previous NIDA studies have shown that teens believe that anything used for medicinal purposes – such as prescription painkillers – are inherently less dangerous. Also, many teens will not use drugs because they are illegal. Without laws prohibiting use, "that deterrent is not present," Dr. Volkow said at a press conference called by NIDA.
But marijuana is not harmless, Dr. Volkow noted. A study published earlier this year found that heavy marijuana use in the teen years contributed to lower IQs and impaired mental abilities (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2012;109:E2657-64 [doi:10.1073/pnas.1206820109]).
"We are increasingly concerned that regular or daily use of marijuana is robbing many young people of their potential to achieve and excel in school or other aspects of life," she said.
Synthetic marijuana, also known as spice or K-2, was the second most popular drug among high school seniors, with 11% reporting they had used it in the past year. A little more than 4% of 8th graders said they’d used the substance.
Dr. Volkow cautioned that synthetic cannabinoids were just as dangerous as is the plant form, and possibly more so, given that the active drug could be concentrated. Many ingredients that can be found in synthetic marijuana have been banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Prescription drug abuse continues to be of concern. Among seniors, Adderall was the third most used drug. About 8% said they had used the prescription stimulant in the previous year, often for a nonmedical use. Vicodin was close behind, with 7.5% of seniors having used it within the past year. The majority of 12th graders (68%) said they were given the prescription medications by friends or relatives; 38% said they had bought the drug from friends or relatives, about a third said they had gotten it by prescription, and 22% said they took it from friends or relatives.
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Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, also spoke at the press conference.
So called "bath salts" were included in the Monitoring the Future survey this year for the first time. "Bath salts" is the street name for a group of designer amphetamine-like stimulants that are sold over the counter. Only 1.3% of seniors reported using the products, a relatively low rate that may reflect heavy publicity about their dangers, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said at the briefing.
The survey also showed that both tobacco and alcohol use have declined significantly over the years. Alcohol use is at its lowest since the survey began in 1975. About 70% of high school seniors said they’d ever used alcohol, down from a peak of 90%.
For tobacco, there were significant declines in lifetime use among 8th graders: 16% in 2012 compared with a peak of 50% in 1996. For 10th graders, 28% said they had ever smoked tobacco, down from a peak of 61% in 1996. Rates of use of smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products continued to stay steady.
"So as we look at these numbers and we look again in trying to determine what they tell us, I think they identify the areas where we need to pay attention and don’t become complacent," Dr. Volkow said.
More than 45,000 students from 395 public and private schools took part in the Monitoring the Future survey this year. Since 1975, the survey has measured the drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes of U.S. high school seniors; 8th and 10th graders were added to the survey in 1991. The survey is funded by NIDA and conducted by University of Michigan investigators led by Lloyd Johnston, Ph.D.