Drug use among teenagers seems to be on the rise. Marijuana is almost commonplace among kids my age. Many of my friends have tried, or are involved with drugs and I never could understand why. I chose this topic in order to try and get a sense of why people do it, or why it is on the rise among teens. Just like smoking cigarettes, it seems obvious that the effects of drugs are going to be bad and maybe even addicting. So, why would anyone want to get involved with them? Why would they want to put their life in danger like that? These are the questions I asked myself during the interview in order to hopefully get some sense as to why people involve themself with such dangerous substances.
According to a study done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Health the use of drugs among teenagers in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade is on the rise. The study started in 1991 continues through 1999. They charted the uses of marijuana, cocaine/crack, LSD, inhalants, and cigarettes. According to the charts, the use of all the substances charted by this study increased among the eighth and tenth graders. In the case of the twelfth graders, the use of all substances increased except for the use of inhalants - it decreased. Here are the statistics generated by part of the study:
Monitoring the Future Study: Trends in Prevalence of Various Drugs
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Marijuana 10.2 11.2 12.6 16.7 19.9 23.1 22.6 22.2 22.0
Crack 1.3 1.6 1.7 2.4 2.7 2.9 2.7 3.2 3.1
LSD 2.7 3.2 3.5 3.7 4.4 5.1 4.7 4.1 4.1
Inhalants. 17.6 17.4 19.4 19.9 21.6 21.2 21.0 20.5 19.7
Cigarettes 44.0 44.2 45.3 46.1 46.4 49.2 47.3 45.7 44.1
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Marijuana 23.4 21.4 24.4 30.4 34.1 39.8 42.3 39.6 40.9
Crack 1.7 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.8 3.3 3.6 3.9 4.0
LSD 5.6 5.8 6.2 7.2 8.4 9.4 9.5 8.5 8.5
Inhalants 15.7 16.6 17.5 18.0 19.0 19.3 18.3 18.3 17.0
Cigarettes 55.1 ...