Getting High at Home
by Michael Leaser
August 14, 2008
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) released its annual National Survey of American Attitudes of Substance Abuse this morning. Most of the survey’s findings aren’t too surprising, but they are disturbing nonetheless. Among the findings: About two-thirds of high school students and twenty percent of middle school students report that drugs are kept, sold, or used on school grounds. A quarter of teens know a parent or guardian of a friend that uses marijuana. And for the first time, prescription drugs are easier for adolescents to obtain than alcohol. It should come as no surprise that the likeliest place for teens to get prescription drugs is in the home.
Taking a close look at federal survey data, the Family Research Council’s Mapping America recently analyzed the significant influence of family structure on adolescent drug use.
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By: Chuck Anziulewicz | August 15, 2008 at 11:49 am
“About two-thirds of high school students and twenty percent of middle school students report that drugs are kept, sold, or used on school grounds.”
Well that’s GOT to be less than when I was in high school back in the mid-1970s. I would suspect nearly ALL of the students a Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, MD, were aware of drugs being kept, sold, and used on school grounds. During the lunch break I would estimate that a good 25% of the student body went outside to smoke pot. Those numbers are probaby way down by now.
As for “a quarter of teens know a parent or guardian of a friend that uses marijuana,” is this so shocking? The latest poll I read indicates that MOST adult Americans have tried pot at least once, and the kid that grew up smoking pot in the 1970s and 1980s are now just ordinary parents trying to make ends meet, and occasionally doing a bong hit to relax in the evening. Better that than getting drunk.