Teens' overall substance use declining, but marijuana use rising

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Marijuana use in teenagers is on the rise, while cigarette and alcohol use are stable or declining, according to health statistics researchers. In particular, black teens are using more marijuana than 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 analyzed data collected from U.S. high school seniors between 1976 and 2013. Nearly 600,000 students were surveyed over this time 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 three different substances - alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana - over the course of 37 years.