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American Drug Abuse Statistics for Teenagers E-mail

In a single day, about 15,000 teenagers from the United States will have their first tries at using drugs. Out of 25 students in an American school, about 3 students may be users of drugs.

TOBACCO
  • Of teenagers from twelve-seventeen years of age, 15 percent are tobacco users (about 3.5 million) 13 percent of these 3.5 million are cigarette smokers. In totality, almost 30 percent of the United States population are tobacco users (about 67 million)

MARIJUANA

  • Teenagers from the ages of fifteen to seventeen may have attended a party in the past half-year wherein marijuana was accessible.
  • Not as many teens as your teenager may think are using marijuana. Research has shown that only about 8 percent of students in eighth grade have used marijuana during the month, while only 17 percent of students in tenth grader have used marijuana during the month. Only 21 percent of students in twelfth grade have used the drug during the month.

STEROIDS
  • From a survey made about teenagers that have tried steroids, it was found that just 2.5 percent of students in eighth grade tried the substance, while only 3.5 percent of students in tenth grade tried the substance; and just 4 percent of students in twelfth grade.

ECSTASY
  • Research has shown that the students in eighth grade who have tried ecstasy are about 4.3 percent, while the percentage for students in tenth grade is 6.6 percent; and 10.5 percent for the students in twelfth grade.
  • A drop in the teenage users of ecstasy has been observed. In a study made about the abuse of the drug by adolescents, there was a 1.3 percent drop in student users in tenth grade from the year 2001 to 2002. A decline in student users in eighth grade was also noted wherein the percentage decreased from 3.5 percent to 2.9 percent, while student users in twelfth grade went from 9.2 percent to 7.4 percent.   

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
  • Research has shown that about 9 million kids from 12 years of age and onward have abused prescription drugs even without an apparent need for the drugs due to medical ailments.

COCAINE
  • The abuse of cocaine is still an evident dilemma in the country. Though the figure of cocaine abusers has gone down from the observed high in the past, there have still been about 2 million users of the substance each year from the year 1992.

HALLUCINOGENS
  • Contrary to what your teen’s peers may be leading him/her to think, research has shown that greater part of teenagers are not trying hallucinogens. Almost 95 percent of adolescents have not even gone near the substance.

Reference: National Institute on Drug Abuse
 
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