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Marijuana Smoking Increases as Binge Drinking Slows Among U.S. Teens

The federal government recently issued the results of their annual drug abuse survey in which they concluded that U.S. teens are gravitating more towards smoking marijuana than cigarettes and fewer are binge-drinking.

Government Survey Data
  • The survey of 46,482 students from 396 schools found that 16 percent of eighth-graders, typically 13 and 14 years old, admitted to using marijuana, up from 14.5 percent in 2009.
  • More than 21 percent of high school seniors, aged 17 and 18, said they had used marijuana in the past 30 days, while 19.2 percent said they smoked cigarettes. This is the first time marijuana use has passed cigarette use in the survey.
  • About 23 percent of high school seniors admitted to binge drinking in the past two weeks, compared to 25 percent in 2009 and 31.5 percent in 1998.
  • The survey found more than 6 percent of high school seniors use marijuana every day, up from 5 percent last year. More than 3 percent of 10th graders and 1 percent of eighth graders said they used marijuana daily, all increases over 2009.
Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said,"Mixed messages about drug legalization, particularly marijuana, may be to blame. Such messages certainly don't help parents who are trying to prevent kids from using drugs."
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