Marijuana Use Growing Among High Schoolers

Pass the dutchie to the high school kids! Never mind, they have their own apparently.

Statistics are now showing that marijuana use in 8th, 10th, and 12th graders has been growing steadily along the thought that marijuana is harmless. In 2012, 6.5% of high school seniors said they smoke marijuana everyday. That number is up 5.1% from 2007, while 23% smoked weed in the past month, and 36% in the past year.

Numbers of weed smokers go up after the 8th grade as well as the thoughts that weed smoking is harmless. As the students got to the 12th grade, the thought that occasional marijuana smoking was harmful went down 22% to only 21% seeing occasional use harmful. The thought that regular use was harmful went down 23%.

The legalization of marijuana in states has most likely contributed to the thoughts that marijuana is a "safer" choice for young teens. Not to mention how often you hear of celebrities advocating they "smoke weed everyday," and movies like "Super High Me." Personally, I see this as a good sign. I would rather have high school kids smoking a joint together than shooting up heroin, drinking codeine, or snorting adderall.

Not, that I've ever seen that before of course. But, I believe kids are getting into harder and harder drugs these days, whether they be prescription or illegal. But maybe, this is also linked to the higher usage of marijuana as well. It isn't called a gateway drug by the reefer madness generation for nothing.

So what do you think? Marijuana used more by high school kids: good or bad? And do you believe that this does or does not have a connection to the higher usage of different other types of drugs because of their introduction to mary jane? Comment below and let me know what you think!