Steady drop in teen marijuana use has slowed

DETROIT — A decade-long decline in teens’ use of pot has stalled and some teen attitudes on how harmful marijuana can be may be softening, according to a federal survey released Monday.

The national debate over medical use of marijuana could be making the drugs seem safer to teenagers, researchers said.

The findings were based on a survey of about 47,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Marijuana use across the three grades showed a consistent downward trend starting in the late 1990s. But the decline has since stopped, and use rates for the three grades showed an uptick between 2007 and 2009, from about 12.9 percent to about 14.3 percent, lead researcher Lloyd Johnston said Monday night.

In the 2009 survey, reported past-year marijuana use was 32.8 percent of 12th graders, 26.7 percent of 10th graders and 11.8 percent of eighth graders, generally not much changed from 2008.

Marijuana was at its recent peak in 1997, when 38.5 percent of 12th-grade students, 34.8 percent of 10th-graders and 17.7 percent of eighth-grade students reported using the drug at least once within a year of being interviewed.

Students were asked how much people risk harming themselves if they smoke marijuana occasionally or smoke marijuana regularly. Fewer eighth-grade students said that people who smoked pot put themselves at great risk than a year ago.

“When the perception of the danger goes down, in the following years you see an increase in use,” said National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow.

A group backing legalization of marijuana said the figures show the futility of trying to ban pot, rather than regulate its use.

“Clearly, regulation of tobacco products has worked to curb access by teens, and it’s time to apply those same sensible policies to marijuana,” said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project.