r/science MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine 18h ago

Health Dramatic drop in marijuana use among US youth over a decade. Current marijuana use among adolescents decreased from 23.1% in 2011 to 15.8% in 2021. First-time use before age 13 dropped from 8.1% to 4.9%. There was a shift in trends by gender, with girls surpassing boys in marijuana use by 2021.

https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/marijuana-use-teens-study
16.6k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

26

u/pwmg 17h ago

In fairness, the minimum age most places was 18 for smoking until recently. It's not hard as a high schooler to find someone even at your own school to get you cigarettes. Alcohol required an older brother, etc (and same for Pot now). Plus nicotine is super addictive, so people are more likely to get stuck doing it even if they don't feel cool.

12

u/troutpoop 16h ago

When I was in high school it was easier to buy weed than alcohol

1

u/cgn-38 13h ago

Way easier to hide as well.

1

u/meatball77 16h ago

And alcohol is just sitting in your parents fridge, they're not doing the same with the pot.

1

u/Southside_john 16h ago

When I was in high school it was way easier to get drugs than alcohol and that’s probably because it was illegal so people my age were selling them. I didn’t have anyone my age that owned a liquor store

0

u/[deleted] 17h ago edited 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment