December 15, 2009 in City

Student pot use rises in CdA, falls in Spokane

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Coeur d’Alene teens smoked more marijuana last year than they did in 2006, a contrast to a trend revealed in statistics released Monday in a federal survey about the drug and alcohol use among U.S. high school students.

In Spokane County, however, students’ marijuana use decreased, according to the Spokane County Regional Health District.

Of the Coeur d’Alene 12th-graders surveyed in 2008, nearly 23 percent had smoked pot within the past month – up 6 percentage points from the previous survey in 2006. Ninth-graders’ use also increased.

Of that younger group, “use only went up slightly in 2008, but I’m thinking we are going to see it go up again,” said Tammy Rubino, a spokeswoman for the Kootenai Alliance for Children and Families, which administers the survey every two years to ninth- and 12th-graders.

“Kids are seeing marijuana legalized for medical use in some states, and the impression is it’s not as dangerous as alcohol,” Rubino said. “I’ve heard people say, ‘It’s natural. It’s a plant.’ ”

During the same period, alcohol use dropped about 10 percentage points among 12th-graders and nearly 15 points for ninth graders, according to the survey.

A lot of data is out there about irreversible brain damage caused by underage drinking, Rubino said. “We’ve hit that pretty hard,” she added. But the message hasn’t been as consistent about marijuana.

Coeur d’Alene high school students also showed an uptick in prescription drug abuse from 2006 to 2008, in alignment with the national survey.

Federal authorities think teens are unaware of the dangers of the prescription medications – OxyContin, Vicodin, Ritalin – because they are medically approved.

Some of those prescription drugs are considered a gateway to heroin, which also increased according to the Coeur d’Alene survey, from 0.4 percent among 12th-graders in 2006 to 2.4 percent in 2008, according to the Coeur d’Alene survey.

Spokane County students in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades reported they didn’t smoke more marijuana in 2008 than the previous two years, but the survey shows a much bigger percentage are using the drug as they get older.

For example, 3.2 percent of sixth-graders had smoked pot in 2008 while nearly 43 percent of 12th-graders had used it, according to the survey.

One comment on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  Megan_B on December 15 at 11:21 a.m.

  It’s important to also note that SMOKING marijuana is worse for your lungs than tobacco. Yes, it harms brain development, especially during a young age (until 25+), but it also causes lung cancer at 3x the rate of cigarettes. If smoking is no longer “cool,” then smoking pot shouldn’t be either.

  And as for thinking that messages about alcohol use have been successful, they have hardly covered any surface area. As long as the media portrays drinking as sexy, and there are billboards all over town advertising these products, then kids are going to think it’s okay. Especially, they argue, if they are old enough to vote or join the military. This logic is flawed, considering that their biological bodies are not “mature” enough for their brains or liver to handle the drug. I’m the only 21-year-old I know who waiting until I actually turned the legal age of 21, and I could have been granted access at any time, almost anywhere I wanted to.

  And as for pot being “natural,” maple leaves are natural too. You won’t see me smoking them. Why must we seek different “creative” methods of finding ways to destroy our bodies? How about we enjoy the truly natural highs of enjoying life? Instead of smoking pot, or getting drunk in front of your kids, why not try playing a game with them, and spend some quality time that you will be able to fully remember and comprehend the next day? Why not enjoy a party with good music, dancing, and friendly, flirty social interaction, and still have all of your wits about you and be able to drive home afterward? I guess I will never fully understand why we, as a species, are constantly in search of ways to alter our minds and judgments instead of enjoying what’s right in front of us.