Rise in Marijuana Smoking Boosts Drug Use by Teens

Drug use by young people increased last year, led by rising marijuana smoking among teenagers who view it as a low-risk “soft drug,” a government survey indicated Friday.

Among those ages 12 to 17, 11.4% reported using some illicit drug within the past month when they were surveyed last year, compared with 9% in 1996.

The drug of choice among the group was marijuana, with 9.4% using it last year. In 1996, 7.1% had reported using marijuana.

The annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported that the percentage of teens using heroin held steady last year. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, 0.2% said they had used heroin within the past month, the same number as in 1996.

The number of first-time heroin users, however, was at an all-time high in the last year for which numbers were available, 1996. Preliminary numbers indicate 171,000 teens used heroin for the first time in 1996, up from the 117,000 who tried it in 1995.

The number of first-time users of marijuana was estimated at 2.54 million in 1996, up from 2.41 million in 1995.

Marijuana is popular because many teens don’t see it as dangerous, said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

Shalala traced the relaxed attitude to parents.

Parents need to inform their children that marijuana is dangerous, that it can impair learning and memory, she said.

“How can we expect young people in this country to resist the lure of marijuana if the parent is transmitting messages that marijuana is OK?” she asked.

The survey, an annual snapshot of illegal drug use in the nation, was conducted throughout last year by interviews with 24,500 people in their homes.

Despite the increase in teen drug use, the overall use of illegal drugs, including that by adults, remained steady. About 6.4% said they used drugs last year. The overall drug use rate in 1996 was 6.1%

Drug use among adults has been stable for years, and last year’s figure is slightly more than half the peak year in 1979, when there were 25 million users.