Pubdate: Fri, 15 Mar 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Donna Gordon Blankinship, The Associated Press
Page: 16

TEENS MORE LIKELY TO USE POT THAN CIGARETTES

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 six, eight, 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 had 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 this past 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 that 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.

A University of Washington researcher who supported the new marijuana 
law said it's a big improvement over prohibition alone, since the 
government has done a lousy job of educating young people about marijuana.

"More adolescents reducing their use of tobacco is an indicator, as I 
see it, of the effectiveness of well-funded, science-based 
education," said Roger Roffman, a professor emeritus of social work 
and a therapist in private practice. "If that can work with tobacco, 
why wouldn't it work with regard to marijuana?"

He expects this public health effort, which was not included in the 
Colorado law, will be more effective in preventing harm, and 
encouraging healthy decisions than prohibition.

The healthy-youth survey conducted in 2012 also found that 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 survey also showed that some teens in King County may be more 
chaste and reported some healthier behaviors than teens elsewhere in 
the state. Compared to 12th-graders statewide, King County seniors 
were significantly less likely to report having had sexual 
intercourse, carried a weapon on school property in the past 30 days 
or having consumed two or more sodas on the day before.

The Healthy Youth Survey is taken every two years by students in 
grades six, eight, 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 one in every six students 
said they seriously considered suicide, the survey found.

About 7 percent of 10thgraders 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.

Seattle Times health reporter Carol M. Ostrom contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom