The numbers are encouraging. Teen smoking and drug use declined during 2001, according to a report published last week in a survey conducted by the University of Michigan.
What is shocking is that so many young people are dabbling in drug experimentation at all. Survey findings showed that 49 percent of 12th graders and 40 percent of 10th graders used marijuana at some point. The percentage of teens using inhalants ranges from 13 to 17 percent. And the percentage of 12th graders who have used LSD is reportedly 10.9 percent.
The good news is most of those numbers are down a smidgen or so from what they were the year before. And teen smoking is down even more.
Just one year ago, a program conducted by Fred Hutchinson researchers was deemed a failure because social smoking was on the rise. So, these new numbers might cause some to wonder how not only a slow down in smoking trends, but a reversal could have happened so soon. Whatever the exact numbers, we should use this latest information to keep up the fight against teen smoking and drug use.
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