Teen Marijuana Statistics

Teen Marijuana statistics reveal that marijuana is the most sought after illicit drugs among teenagers today. About 60 percent of kids who are into drugs are said to use marijuana. Among 14.6 million people who smoked marijuana in 2002, about 4.8 million smoked it for at least 20 days in a period of one month and some used it for more than 20 days. This reveals how alarming the issue of teen marijuana addiction has become. Unless everyone contributes in some way or the other it's impossible to prevent adolescent addiction. Although marijuana addiction treatment and teen drug rehab provide solutions to drug abuse teen, it's better to prevent them from engaging in such activities in the first place than exploring ways of treatment after things have gone way beyond control.

A detailed look at Teen Marijuana Statistics

The marijuana drug that the teens use today is said to be much stronger in nature than the ones that were available about four decades back. More often it also combined with other drugs which increase their potency. Every year at least 100,000 teenagers are being treated for marijuana addiction. They are said to go through similar withdrawal symptoms that are seen in nicotine users.

Monitoring of Future Study conducted by the University of Michigan is program that is dedicated to assessment of alcohol and drug usage among the youth of America. Reports revealed by one of their surveys confirm a substantial increase of marijuana usage among twelfth, tenth and eighth graders between the years 1992 and 1997. This is considered a disturbing national trend in increase of teen marijuana users.

In the years 1991 and 2001 the fraction of eight graders who smoked marijuana increased to one in five from one in ten. This indicates how earlier kids are beginning to use marijuana. Research reveals that earlier a teen starts to use marijuana, more are the chances for him/her to become marijuana or drug dependent in later years. Among teens who take treatment for marijuana addiction, 56 percent had begun to use it from the age of fourteen and 26 percent from the age of twelve.  This, according to a survey conducted by National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA),

According to the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA),   among teens who had smoked marijuana for twelve or more days in the previous years, 58 percent had one problem to relate to the marijuana addiction, 41 percent had two problems to relate to their addiction and 28 percent had minimum of 3 problems to relate to their marijuana usage. From the age of 12 to the age of 13 the fraction of teenagers who accept that they could purchase marijuana if they desired to becomes more than triple from 14 percent to a whopping 50 percent.  Also there is an increase in percentage from 8 to 22 for students who say that they know someone in school (student) who sells drugs.

Root Cause of Teen Marijuana Abuse

Marijuana messages that teens get are mixed and this is definitely not helping the situation. They need to clearly get the message that marijuana is an illegal substance to use and it can affect their lives in more than one way. If they do not get this message one way or the other, there are no chances for teen marijuana statistics to improve.