Teen Substance Abuse Statistics

From The U.S. Dept. of Justice Statistics and National Institute on Drug Abuse come the following statistics:

• Alcohol kills 6.5 times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.
• By the 8th grade, 52% of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 41% have smoked cigarettes and 20% have used marijuana.
• Around 28% of teens know a friend or classmate who has used ecstasy, with 17% knowing more than one user.
• Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for all persons age 6-33.
• About 45% of fatalities are alcohol-related crashes.
• Crystal meth has become the most dangerous drug problem of small-town America.
• Kids between 12 and 14 that live in smaller towns are 104% more likely to use meth than those who live in larger cities.
• Youth who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young people who never drink alcohol.
• More than 60% of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.
• In 2006, more than 2.1 million teens abused prescription drugs; imagine that figure today.
• While rates of illicit drug use are declining, the rate of prescription drug use remains high. 15.4% of HS seniors reported non-medical use of at least one prescription medication within the past year.
• About 64% of teens (12-17) who have abused pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives, often without their knowledge.
• Teens whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t, yet only a quarter of teens report having these conversations.
• Marijuana is still being used just as often by students as five years ago, and teens don’t really even see marijuana as dangerous.
• Prescription drug abuse has been steadily increasing, as well as inhalant abuse.