Cigarette smoking among teens dropped to the lowest level since the survey began in 1975.
Daily smokers drop
Only 2.7 percent of eighth graders admitted to smoking daily — down from a peak rate of 10.4 percent in 1996 — while 11.2 percent of high school seniors say they smoke daily, less than half of the 24.6 percent rate reported in 1997, the survey said.
More and more teens are getting high on marijuana, according to a national survey released yesterday.
Pot, prescription painkillers and drugs for attention deficit disorder are increasingly abused by teens, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the University of Michigan.
“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 University of Michigan researcher Lloyd Johnston, the study’s principal investigator of the rise in pot.
Although the increase was not dramatic — 20.6 percent of 12th graders said they smoked pot in the past month, up from 19.4 percent last year — researchers were worried by youths’ declining concern with the risks of using marijuana, prescription drugs and drugs like ecstasy.
“I could easily imagine [ecstasy] making a comeback as younger children entering their teens become increasingly unaware of its risks,” Johnston said.
Meanwhile, students reported declines in cigarette smoking, binge drinking and use of LSD and cocaine.
The survey also added salvia and Provigil to its survey this year. Salvia — not currently illegal — is an herb in the mint family that gives chewers a brief high. Six percent of 12th graders said they used it in the last year.