This new generation is…healthier?
Perhaps what can be summed up by better education and awareness, teen use of marijuana is down about 3 percentage points from last year for 12th graders (25.8% this year from 29% in 2023).
There is certainly nuance within the numbers, as vaping has remained stable while smoking is down throughout.
The downward trend is happening across all of drug use, which is a promising stat and has apparently caught officials by surprise. It was initially thought that the lower numbers earlier this decade were due to Covid restrictions, but the percentage of teens using drugs has remained at their low numbers.
“This trend in the reduction of substance use among teenagers is unprecedented. We must continue to investigate factors that have contributed to this lowered risk of substance use to tailor interventions to support the continuation of this trend,” says Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
These numbers help prove that marijuana legalization does not lead to increased usage among those under the age limit. However, it may bear more concerning implications in the long run, signaling a lack of enthusiasm for the plant overall as more and more states legalize its market.
Read the survey at NIH.
