Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jun 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

COLORADO TEENS' POT USE NOT SURGING

DENVER (AP) - Marijuana use among Colorado high-schoolers has not 
increased since legalization, the state Health Department reported 
Monday in a new batch of youth survey results.

The 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado survey of about 17,000 middle and high 
school students across the state showed that 21.2 percent of high 
school students reported that they currently use pot. That's just a 
hair below the national average, which was 21.7 percent.

Since voters approved recreational marijuana use for those 21 and 
older in 2012, Colorado has worked to keep youths off of pot. 
Campaigns have said the drug will keep them from achieving their full 
potential and reminded them their brains aren't fully developed until 
they reach 25.

Nine of 10 Colorado high school youth said they don't smoke 
cigarettes, the highest rejection of smoking by high school youth in 
the past decade.

Colorado health authorities praised the results as an indication that 
risk-prevention efforts are working.

"Overall, young people in Colorado are making healthy choices," said 
Leo Kattari, survey coordinator for the Colorado Department of Public 
Health and Environment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom