Kathy Graham Sullivan, director of the Roanoke Area Youth
Substance Abuse Coalition, shares the August RAYSAC Radar
newsletter: Teen “Heavy” Marijuana Use Up 80 Percent Since 2008
One in Ten Teens Reports Using Marijuana at Least 20 Times a
Month National survey results released by The Partnership at
Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation (2011) found that past-month
marijuana use, particularly heavy use has increased
significantly among U.S. high school students since 2008. The
study found that 9 percent of teens (nearly 1.5 million) smoked
marijuana heavily (at least 20 times) in the past month.
Concerning trends in teen marijuana use according to the data
(2008-2011) - Past-month use is up 42 percent (up from 19
percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2011, which translates to about
4 million teens). - Past-year use is up 26 percent (up from 31
percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2011, which translates to about
6 million teens). - Lifetime use is up 21 percent (up from 39
percent in 2008 to 47 percent in 2011, which tr