Teen Drug Use
Friday, March 14, 2008

Teen drug use is a serious issue facing today’s youth. A recent study released annually indicates mixed results in the ongoing war on drugs. Dr. Ken Davis tells more in today’s 60 Second Housecall.

Drug use edged up in American 10th- and 12th-graders but dropped in eighth-graders during the past year, according to data from the Monitoring the Future Study.

About one in 14 eighth-graders said they'd used an illegal drug within the last month, down 0.7 percent from 2006. At the same time, the number of 10th- and 12th-graders acknowledging drug use edged up from last year.

While the study shows a slight increase from last year, these numbers are down significantly from the peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Researchers indicated a 24 percent reduction since 2001 in the percentage of school kids who say they've taken illegal drugs in the past month.

The study shows that since 2002, teens have shown less interest in nearly every major drug of abuse, including marijuana, methamphetamine and alcohol.

But health officials are concerned about OxyContin and other prescription narcotics, which have not seen significant drops.

For North Mississippi Medical Center, I’m Dr. Ken Davis.