School Resource Officer
Marijuana & Kids:
Back-to-School Fact Sheet
Parents: Do Your Homework for a Drug-Free School Year
Going back to school signifies a time of new beginnings – new schools, classes, and friends. It can also be a time of new challenges for many young people when it comes to drugs. Every day, approximately 4,700 American youth ages 12-17 try marijuana for the first time. And more than one out of twenty (5.4 percent) students in grades 9-12 smoke marijuana on school property.
The transition from middle to high school is a particularly risky time for teens, putting them at an increased risk for drug use.
The most dramatic increase in first-time
marijuana use occurs between the ages of 12 and 13, the time of
transition from middle school to high school, and continues to climb
significantly, peaking at age 15 before leveling off.
Lifetime marijuana use increases more than sevenfold between the
ages of 12 and 14 (from 2 percent to 15 percent).
The percentage of kids who have tried drugs doubles between 8 th and 10 th grade, from 18 percent to 36 percent. During this same grade transition, disapproval of marijuana use declinessignificantly between 8th and 10th grade from 82 to 68 percent.
Highly stressed teens are twice as likely as teens with a low level of stress to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs. Nearly one in three girls and one in four boys report being highly stressed.
Parents tend to overestimate their child’s anti-drug attitudes and underestimate their exposure to drugs and actual drug use, mistakenly believing their child is not at risk.
Read more about drugs available to students
