Originally published February 15 2006
Teen drug abuse studies show cigarette smoking is on the decline
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, recently announced that cigarette smoking is down among teens, but surveys show that the abuse of prescription painkillers has risen.
Cigarette smoking is at its lowest level in a survey of teenagers and use of illicit drugs has been declining, but continuing high rates of abuse for prescription painkillers remain a worry, the government reported Monday.
The decline in drug use is "quite remarkable news," Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in issuing the agency's annual survey of drug use by children in grades eight, 10 and 12.
But she added that "prescription drugs are very powerful medicines that are effective when used properly and with a doctor's supervision.
Using these drugs without a prescription is dangerous.
In the study, 9.5 percent of 12th-graders reported using the painkiller Vicodin and 5.5 percent reported using OxyContin in the past year.
Overall, however, the report had good news, particularly about cigarette smoking.
It cited a 19 percent decline over the past four years in the use of any illegal drug in the month before the survey was done.
Drugs are harmful and will not only hurt their brains and bodies, but also damage their futures," said John P. Walters, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
In the survey, teens were asked about use of drugs, tobacco and alcohol in their lifetime, in the month before the survey and in the year before the survey.
Lifetime use of cigarettes declined 2 percent among eighth-graders, decreased 1.7 percent among 10th-graders and declined 2.8 percent among 12th-graders, according to the Monitoring the Future survey done by the University of Michigan.
The study surveyed 49,347 students in 402 public and private schools.
_Between 2001 and 2005, lifetime and last-year use of steroids declined for all grades.
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