According to data from a 2017 national drug use survey, experts are warning of a slight uptick in the rates of senior high school students in the U.S. using marijuana and vaporizer.

The 2017 Monitoring the Future survey, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Michigan.

The Monitor the Future study surveyed 43,703 students from 360 public and private schools across the country and tracked their responses.

The survey found that more than a third of senior students surveyed have used marijuana and nearly one in three have used a vaporizer, or “vape” device, in the last year.

The increase of use among 12th graders was 37.1% for this year compared to 35.6% for last year.

Though the increase doesn’t look that large, experts are concerned.

Dr. Richard Miech, the principal investigator of Monitoring the Future said, “It is possible that this could be the start of an upswing in marijuana use, given that 12th graders today see less risk in marijuana use than any cohorts we’ve seen in recent decades.”

The study also found that 14.1% of 12th graders see “great risk” of smoking marijuana from time to time.

“Typically, as this percentage declines the use of marijuana increases,” Miech explained. “These low levels of perceived risk may set the stage for substantial, future increases in youth marijuana use.”

“There’s the concern that all of the big advances that we’ve done in the prevention of smoking among teenagers may be lost by the introduction of these electronic devices that are used to take nicotine,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

She also said, “Those kids who think that they are just vaping flavor, they may be vaping a flavor with nicotine and you will never know it.”

“That’s how the addiction process is triggered and initiated, so that is definitely an area of concern,” she explains. She said, “It’s much easier to do that transition of using them and combining them with nicotine.”


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Study Finds That Senior Citizens Are Accepting Medical Marijuana
21 August 2018
PURA Farmersville Hemp Nutraceutical Partnership With PAOG Featured In PAOG Update
01 February 2022
The First Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens on the Big Island
17 January 2019