A new report from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) shows that nearly half of all of high school students in the U.S. are using addictive substances, and one in three of them are addicted. Alcohol is the number one substance used by teens. Jim Ramstad, former member of Congress and a CASA board member who chaired the report’s National Advisory Commission stated: “Smoking, drinking and using other drugs while the brain is still developing dramatically hikes the risk of addiction and other devastating consequences.”
- 72.5 percent of high school students have drunk alcohol
- 46.3 percent of high school students have smoked cigarettes
- 36.8 percent have used marijuana
- 14.8 percent have misused controlled prescription drugs
- 65.1 percent have used more than one substance;
One of the main reasons they conducted this studies was to see why teens were using these substances and focus on how to stop them from using. The number one factor in a teen’s use or non use of addictive substances is parental involvement. “A significant body of evidence shows that a positive family environment and positive parenting practices related to affection, support, monitoring, rules, discipline and reward are associated with reduced risk of teen substance use.”
Do these numbers surprise you? How do you encourage your kids not to use addictive substances, i.e. cigarettes, alcohol, drugs?
