Drug and Alcohol Use and Abuse Among Teenagers
Alcohol Abuse: The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 80% of high school seniors have tried alcohol, and a majority report having been drunk at least once. The percentage of binge drinkers (drinking 5 or more drinks in a row) has been climbing steadily since the first survey in 1991. A national sample taken in 2000 indicated that 39% of high school seniors, 26% of tenth graders, and 14% of eighth graders admitted to binge drinking during the previous 2 week period. Over 20% of all 8th graders report having been drunk at least one time.
Drug Abuse: A 2005 survey showed that 50.4% of seniors have used at least one illegal drug, and 44.8% have tried marijuana. Surprising to some parents, rural areas show a slightly higher level of drug and alcohol use among teens than urban areas. Living in a small rural town is no safety net.
Substance Abuse: The good news is that illegal substance use among teens has been decreasing for the last five years, but was only fractionally lower between 2004 and 2005. Unfortunately, teens' perception of the risk involved in substance use is also on the decrease, a trend that has continued since 1990. Teens generally don't accept the adult concern, for example, that marijuana is much purer and more potent than it was a few decades ago and that they should be concerned about using it. They see teens all around them using marijuana, often with no apparent negative effects, and come to believe that it is of little or no danger to them, regardless of what adults may think.
