The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign launched a set of
television ads this year aimed at debunking teens' perceptions that
marijuana is a harmless drug. The timing is good: government data
show that marijuana use is on the rise among U.S. teens. The U.S.
surgeon general reports that marijuana is the most widely used
illegal drug among America's youth. And according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, marijuana use increased from
15% in 1991 to 24% in 2001 among 9th- to
12th-grade students.
Who are the teens most likely to try marijuana? What kinds of
behaviors may lead teens to try it? Data from Gallup's 2003 Gallup
Youth Survey* provide some insight on these questions.
Teen-age Use of Marijuana and Alcohol
The 2003 survey asked teens a series of questions about their
use of various substances, including marijuana and alcohol, that
can be damaging to one's health. Results show that one in five
teens (20%) has tried marijuana, compared to 30% who report using
alcohol (see "One in Three Teens Admits Drinking Alcohol" in
Related Items).
As might be expected, older teens (those aged 16 to 17) are
twice as likely to report trying marijuana than younger teens
(those aged 13 to 15) are -- 29% compared to 14%.
There also seems to be a connection between teens' likelihood to
report engaging in other unhealthy behaviors, and their reported
marijuana use. Forty-three percent of teens who say they drink
alcohol also report trying marijuana, compared with just 10% of
those who say they don't drink alcohol. Thirty-five percent of
youth who say they eat an unhealthy diet report trying marijuana,
compared to 18% who say they eat a healthy diet and 17% who say
they eat an "okay" diet. Perhaps most telling is the fact that 75%
of teens who say they have smoked cigarettes in the last week
report having tried marijuana, five times greater than the
percentage of those who say they have not smoked.
Bottom Line
Substance abuse professionals frequently observe multiple
addictions among their patients. For example, those with alcohol
abuse problems often also have problems with illegal drug use.
Substance abuse patients who are weaned off alcohol and/or illegal
drugs often increase tobacco use or caffeine consumption to
compensate.
This pattern may also be reflected in the Gallup Youth Survey
data. Marijuana is often simply one aspect of a teen's unhealthy
lifestyle. Decreasing marijuana use among this population may hinge
on more broadly targeting the underlying causes of numerous
unhealthy behaviors. Simply dispelling myths about marijuana use
(as in the current anti-marijuana ad campaign) or instructing teens
to "just say no," may have no more impact than the "reefer madness"
approach used to try to scare previous generations of teens away
from the drug.
*The Gallup Youth Survey is conducted via an Internet
methodology provided by Knowledge Networks, using an online
research panel that is designed to be representative of the entire
U.S. population. The current questionnaire was completed by 1,200
respondents, aged 13 to 17, between Jan. 23-Feb. 10, 2003. For
results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence
that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3%. For a
complete description of the sampling and weighting procedures used
to conduct the survey, click here.
