New Government Survey Finds Teens Shunning Synthetic Cannabis for the Natural Product
A new national survey released by Monitoring the Future – an organization funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse – and conducted by researchers
at the University of Michigan, has found that teenagers are shunning synthetic substances meant to mimic cannabis, such as K2 and Spice, and are replacing them by smoking more actual cannabis. The survey was of more than 40,000 teenagers in three different grades (8th, 10th and 12th).
According to the survey, the number of high school seniors using synthetic cannabis dropped significantly from 2012 to 2013, from over 11% down to 8%, an almost 50% drop.
The number of seniors using cannabis, however, is up. In 2013, 1 in 15 seniors reported using cannabis daily; that number was 1 in 50 in 1993.
25% of seniors reported using cannabis in the past month, and 36% in the past year. For sophomores, 30% have consumed cannabis in the past year, and 18% in the past month; 4% report consuming it daily. All of these numbers are up from last year, while the use of synthetic cannabis is down among all age groups.
For many cannabis reform advocates this new survey is good news, as cannabis is much safer than synethtic substances. “It’s important to keep in mind that marijuana pales in comparison to alcohol, cigarettes, inhalants and pharmaceutical drugs in terms of dangers to young people,” says Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Police Alliance. “Indeed”, he says, “for many young people, the worst consequences of marijuana involve arrest for marijuana possession, not its consumption.”
– TheJointBlog
Alex
Good thing too, because that synthetic garbage is terrible for the body, as where cannabis is not.
Marigold
This is good news! And I wonder if the number of seniors who reported having used marijuana has increased only because it feels safer to admit to it? Having graduated in the early 90s, I feel like the number was closer to 1 in 2 people used marijuana, at least that’s the way it was in my graduating class, and perhaps the number 1 in 15 is just getting closer to the truth.
DVORAK
Good to know these kid are sticking to cannabis instead of spice, though i find it absurdly amusing and questionable to why our government would allow the sale of such harmful chemically induced herbs which have proven to give severe lung infections, migraines, kidney damage, seizures, coronary artery disease and in rare cases death, yet they still refuse the federal sale of cannabis which has proven to aid in body pains, arthritis, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cerebal palsy, night terror, and even the ability to inhibit the spread of cancer cells.
Not only in health but hemp is also a very durable material that can be used for fabric, shampoos and conditioners, ointments and body oils and …hell who am i kidding even an ingredient for beer!!! (though you can use almost anything for that) Most average underground americans (i say underground in a sense of people who aren’t prudes and have actually looked into it and tried it themselves) already know that cannabis is practically the most harmless drug, (and yes, DRUG contrary to what anyone wants to say, it is a drug by definition, but so are energy drinks, nyquil and ibuprofen) so i’m left absolutely befuddled to why it hasn’t been made legal or even taxed for sale like cigarettes or alcohol, maybe big corporations just dont want it to spread, or maybe the government has some secret reason to why they don’t want it legal. Even in history books it almost seems like marijuana was erased from “credible” records though we’ve known that it’s been around for thousands of years and i sure as hell know before the 1900’s it’s not tobacco they were only smoking and it wasn’t illegal back then. Is there some conspiracy behind marijuana that the government knows??