Anti-Marijuana PSA Educational Video. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug used by teens today. Approximately 60 percent of the kids who use drugs use only marijuana. Of the 14.6 million marijuana users in 2002, approximately 4.8 million used it on 20 or more days in any given month (Kids and Marijuana). The marijuana that is available to teens today is much stronger than the marijuana that was available in the 1960′s. Sometimes it is also laced with other, more potent drugs. Marijuana is physically addictive. Each year, 100000 teens are treated for marijuana dependence. Teens who smoke marijuana heavily experience much the same symptoms of withdrawal as users of nicotine. The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, which assesses drug and alcohol use among American youth, reported substantial increases among eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders from 1992 to 1997. These statistics show a disturbing national trend in the increase of marijuana use by teenagers (Facts about Marijuana Use). Between 1991 and 2001, the percentage of eighth graders who used marijuana doubled from one in ten to one in five. Kids are using marijuana at an earlier age. Research indicates that the earlier teens start using marijuana, the more likely they are to become dependent on this or other drugs later in life. Of teens admitted for treatment for marijuana dependence, 56 percent had first used the drug by fourteen years of age, and 26 percent had begun by twelve years of …
Video Rating: 1 / 5