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National survey reveals extent of teen drug, alcohol use

By Staff Writer

Researchers from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University recently conducted a nationwide survey on teen drug and alcohol use. After analyzing the results, researchers said that teen substance abuse is the country's "number one health problem."

According to the survey, almost half of all high school students say they smoke, drink or use other drugs. Specifically, about 10 million students said they have tried addictive substances like alcohol, marijuana, cocaine or tobacco. About 6.1 million teens said they currently use these drugs, while about one in three of these youths meet the criteria for addiction.

When the statistics were broken down by substance, alcohol is the most commonly abused. Currently, about 72.5 percent of high school students said they drink alcohol. Cigarettes were the second most popular drug, as 46.3 percent of teens smoke them.

It may be important to prevent adolescent substance abuse, as the report shows that 90 percent of current addicts began smoking, drinking or doing drugs before they were 18 years old.

Parents who believe that their children need assistance in controlling their drug problem may want to research the option of enrolling them in schools for troubled youths.

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