FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2010
CONTACT: Jonathan Perri, SSDP National Associate Director – (401) 265-9445 Increase in Teen Marijuana Use Due to Failed Policies,
Not Medical Marijuana
More High School Seniors Now Smoking Marijuana
than Cigarettes, According to Survey
Not Medical Marijuana
More High School Seniors Now Smoking Marijuana
than Cigarettes, According to Survey
“Because marijuana is available on the black market, high school students have easier access to it than they do to cigarettes,” explained Jonathan Perri, Associate Director at SSDP. “Drug dealers aren’t going to ask for an ID before they sell drugs. If marijuana were regulated and taxed like alcohol or cigarettes, it would be more difficult for young people to purchase.”
At a press conference in Washington this week, the White House drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, blamed the increase on the debate surrounding marijuana legalization and state medical marijuana laws around the country.
“If the drug use numbers go down even slightly, the ONDCP takes credit for it, but when they go up, they don’t want to reassess their own failed policies. There is no evidence that medical marijuana laws have resulted in a national increase in use among high school seniors - if anything, young people no longer believe the reefer madness that the federal government has been spreading about marijuana for years," said Perri.
The group argues that regulating marijuana like cigarettes would be more effective at reducing use. “Tobacco use has become unattractive to young people through prevention education and by keeping the drug in a legal but regulated market with heavy taxes imposed,” continued Perri. “It’s time to do the same with marijuana.”
Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against counterproductive Drug War policies, particularly those that directly harm students and youth.
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3 comments:
On the contrary, if you look at teen cigarette smoking over the past several years, the rate of decline has actually been slowing.
So, the focus of the Monitoring the Future Survey is that 6.1 percent of High School seniors use marijuana, while marijuana use by 10th-graders climbed from 2.8 percent to 3.3 percent, and for eighth-grade students it edged up from 1.0 percent to 1.2 percent.
But the fact that 13.8% of 8th graders, 28.9% of 10th graders,and 41.2%s of 12th graders drank alcohol during the past month is down-played.
This is a clear demonstration of perverting statistics to suit the needs of the government’s war on marijuana.
Yes, but you have to take into consideration that nearly every house hold has alcohol lying around the house while smoking adults keep their cigarets on their person.
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