Pot smoking up but health campaigns ‘working’

In reacting to news that cigarette smoking and alcohol use is stable or declining among US teenagers, but that marijuana use is on the rise, a health expert has declared that public health campaigns are working.

In a piece on the Penn State University website, Victoria M. Indivero cited health statistics researchers as having found that marijuana use among teenagers is on the rise, while cigarette and alcohol use is stable or declining. In particular, black teenagers were using more marijuana than they had in recent decades.

“Our analysis shows that public health campaigns are working – fewer teens are smoking cigarettes,” said Stephanie Lanza, professor of biobehavioral health, and scientific director, The Methodology Center, Penn State. “However, we were surprised to find the very clear message that kids are choosing marijuana over cigarettes.”

Lanza and colleagues were said to have analyzed data collected from US high school seniors between 1976 and 2013.

Nearly 600,000 students were surveyed over this period as part of the project Monitoring the Future, a long-term ongoing epidemiological study conducted by the University of Michigan.

Lanza and her team focused on information reported about the rates of use of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana over the 37-year period.

Overall the researchers found a marked decline in cigarette use, particularly among white teens, and an increase in marijuana use, particularly among black teens.

The rate of teen alcohol consumption has decreased since the mid-1970s, though alcohol is still the main substance of choice among white teens. White teens’ alcohol use remained higher than black teens’ use throughout the study period.