Washington teens choose pot over cigs
Health survey shows youths are twice as likely to smoke marijuana as tobacco
SEATTLE - Washington high school students who participated in a statewide health survey say they are twice as likely to smoke marijuana as cigarettes.
High school smoking has decreased significantly across the state, with cigarette smoking down in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, but the number of high school students who believe using marijuana is risky is also at a low point, health officials said Thursday after releasing the 2012 survey results.
"As the perception of harm goes down, use goes up," said Washington Health Secretary Mary Selecky.
More than half of 10th graders said it is easy to get marijuana and about 19 percent said they smoked marijuana within 30 days of the survey. About 27 percent of 12th graders said they smoked pot.
Selecky expressed concern that marijuana prevention efforts are not ready to ramp up in response to the new state law legalizing adult marijuana use.
Colorado and Washington voters legalized marijuana possession for adults over 21 in November, but possession remains illegal for youth.
Some people in Washington anticipated tax revenue from sales of marijuana at state licensed stores will be devoted to youth prevention education. But Selecky said marijuana stores are expected to open before new money for prevention efforts flows to the state. She noted the state has worked hard to keep tobacco out of the hands of minors by making it illegal for anyone under 19 to buy cigarettes, but kids are still getting their hands on tobacco.
Washington already does some youth drug prevention, but to get the results seen in smoking prevention, they will need to increase their efforts significantly, Selecky said.
"We have our work cut out for us," she said.
The healthy youth survey conducted in 2012 also found fewer students are using alcohol, compared with 2010. About 23 percent of students in 10th grade reported drinking alcohol over the previous 30 days, compared with 28 percent in 2010. That number peaked at 45 percent in 1999. The 12th grade numbers dropped from 40 percent in 2010 to 36 percent in 2012.
The Healthy Youth Survey is taken every two years by students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, in more than 1,000 public schools in Washington. More than 200,000 youth took the voluntary and anonymous survey in October 2012.
The results also found some troubling information in other areas, Selecky said.
About 8 percent of eighth- and 10th-graders said they attempted suicide during the past year, and about 1 in every 6 students said they seriously considered suicide, the survey found.
About 7 percent of 10th-graders and 16 percent of 12th-graders said they had four or more sexual partners, and the majority of students who said they were sexually active acknowledged they were not using condoms to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
There was some good news.
Students in all grades said they had increased their commitment to school, and fewer were skipping class.
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Online: Healthy Youth Survey: http://is.gd/IP4blF
