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Home » Percentage of 12th Graders Who Perceive Great Risk From Regular Marijuana Use At 35-year Low

Percentage of 12th Graders Who Perceive Great Risk From Regular Marijuana Use At 35-year Low

Submitted by Administrator on Wed, 02/05/2014 - 22:22

The percentage of 12th grade students who perceive regular marijuana use to be a great risk continues to decrease, according to the most recent data from the national Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. After peaking in the early 1990s, the perceived risk of physical or other harm from regular marijuana use decreased for a few years, then leveled off for a decade before beginning to decline again in 2007. In 2013, 40% of 12th graders thought that using marijuana regularly posed a great risk, the lowest level since the record low of 35% in 1978. According to the study’s author, “Perceived risk - namely the risk to the user that teenagers associate with a drug - has been a lead indicator of use, both for marijuana and other drugs, and it has continued its sharp decline in 2013 among teens. This could foretell further increases in use in the future” (p. 2). In 2013, 23% of 12th graders reported using marijuana in the past month, the highest level since 1999, but still lower than the peak of 37% reached in 1978 (see CESAR FAX, Volume 23, Issue 3).

SOURCE: Adapted by CESAR from University of Michigan, “American Teens More Cautious About Using Synthetic Drugs,” Monitoring the Future National Press Release, December 18, 2013. Available online at http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/data/13data.html#2013data-drugs.