2011 Monitoring the Future Survey Results Released
2011 Monitoring the Future Survey Results Released
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has released the results of their 2011 Monitoring the Future Survey. The report showed some disturbing trends about marijuana use among youth. According to this report, daily marijuana use is up in all grades surveyed. Most measures of marijuana use increased among eighth-graders. The 2010 use rates were 6.1 percent of high school seniors, 3.3 percent of 10th -graders, and 1.2 percent of eighth-graders compared to 2009 rates of 5.2 percent, 2.8 percent, and 1.0 percent, respectively.
"The increases in youth drug use reflected in the Monitoring the Future Study are disappointing," said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Mixed messages about drug legalization, particularly marijuana, may be to blame.”
“This report shows that marijuana use has increased among youth and that the attitudes about marijuana’s harmfulness has significantly decreased, which clearly demonstrates what we have known for years - when the perception of the harms of drugs decreases, use rises,” said Calvina Fay, Executive Director of Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. “The ruse that marijuana is a medicine has created a false sense that this addictive, dangerous drug is not harmful, but in fact helpful. In order to protect the future of our youth, it’s time for our government to increase drug prevention resources and aggressively push back against marijuana legalization for any purpose! Perhaps it’s time to withhold federal funds from states that fail to uphold our nation’s drug laws,” Fay added.
“Research has shown time and time again that marijuana impairs adolescent brain development so this is a very scary trend, especially with respect to the future. Marijuana is also known to exacerbate mental illness which typically presents itself in late adolescence. These numbers are very disturbing to me and I hope the public will take note of these key findings and oppose any kind of marijuana legalization efforts that we are faced with now and in the future,” concluded Fay.
To read more about the 2011 Monitoring the Future Survey go to: http://www.drugabuse.gov/newsroom/10/NR12-14.html
