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First of all, did you mean more harmful substances or more harmful substances? Because marijuana is certainly not more harmful than alcohol. As for it being a harmful substance? Well, marijuana use might not be healthful for most teens, but it is no more harmful than the Red Bulls, Five Hour Energys, and Starbucks Frappacinos we dont card kids for. But I really wanted to address were doing a pretty poor job with alcohol, because, actually, we are doing a great job with alcohol. According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, since the beginning of the medical marijuana era (1996), binge drinking figures for 8th, 10th, and 12th grades have all dropped by more than one-fifth for seniors, more than one-quarter for sophomores, and more than one-third for 8th graders
Furthermore, when we take a longer look at youth substance use, we find were doing a fine job with the two legal drugs alcohol and tobacco and the fear of rising marijuana use rates is misplaced. At the peak of youth use in the late 1970s, among high school seniors over 93% had tried alcohol, over 75% had tried tobacco, and over 60% had tried marijuana. Today, thanks to a raise in the drinking age from 18-19 to 21, aggressive anti-tobacco education, and strict ID carding programs, now only over 70% of seniors have tried alcohol, over 43% have tried tobacco, and over 41% have tried marijuana.* Finally, while nobody here advocates for kids using alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana, we do recognize that kids will encounter these things in society. When our laws punish marijuana so severely and when our schools are drug testing for marijuana they provide incentive to choose more harmful substances that arent detected so easily. A hit of acid, shot of tequila, pill of ecstasy, line of coke, and syringe of heroin on a Friday night will easily be eliminated long before any school drug test can pick it up on Monday but a joint can stay in their system for a week or longer. * One may notice in the graph supplied that marijuana use did drop to as low as over 32% by 1992, rising to almost 50% by 1999. The long decline of marijuana use in the 1980s was due to severe supply restriction thanks to Reagan Administration eradication efforts this was long before the indoor growing boom. That sharp marijuana decline was offset by a sharp cocaine increase. Less than 10% of seniors had tried cocaine in the 1970s. By 1985 (my senior year), over 17% of seniors had tried cocaine. The 1990s sharp increase can be traced to increased supply through indoor cultivation.
This blog was originally published by NORML, The NORML Stash Blog, and can be found at www.stash/norml.org