What are some statistics on teenage drug use?
• In the U.S., about 3,000 teens smoke their first tobacco cigarette each day. About one-third of those adolescents become daily smokers. • In 2004, the percentage of adolescents who have used any drug in the past month was about 27%. • As of 2002, about one-third of 10th-graders used marijuana in the past year. Nearly one-fifth of 10th-graders said they used it in the past month. • In 2002, about 2% of 10th-graders had used cocaine in the past year, 3% had used opiates, 13% had used inhalants, nearly 5% had used a club drug (for example, “Ecstasy”), and about 2% had used anabolic steroids. • While the use of most drugs by teenagers has decreased since 2001, the abuse of Oxycontin, a narcotic, has increased to 5% of 10th-graders in 2004. What are the dangerous effects of drug use in teens? Just a few of the many dangerous effects of drug use in adolescents include: • Drugs of any kind decreases teens’ ability to pay attention. • The younger a person is when they begin using drugs the m
