USA Today (12/16, Leger) reports that a national survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s “Monitoring the Future” project found that “marijuana use among teens declined this year even as two states, Colorado and Washington, legalized the drug for recreational use.”
The survey also found “Abuse of all prescription drugs, including narcotic painkillers, sedatives and amphetamines, declined from 16% in 2013 to 14% in 2014 among 12th graders, the survey found. Narcotic painkiller use, in decline since 2009, dropped again from 7% in 2013 to 6% in 2014.
Heroin use, which has grown among adult populations, remained stable for teens.” According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Teens considered narcotic pain relievers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, safer than illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine, because they are prescribed by doctors.”
Related Links:
— “Survey: Teen marijuana use declines even as states legalize,” Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today, December 16, 2014.