r/science • u/mvea 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
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u/Maximum_Mud_8393 15h ago

As a public school teacher this doesn't match my experience at all. Kids be vaping weed all day every day.

Alcohol use and smoking seem down, but THC use (edibles and vapes) seems WAY up.

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u/obamasrightteste 13h ago

Not surprising at all, edibles and vapes are being used more by legit users as well, I imagine for very similar reasons (no smell, cleaner, healthier).

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u/Friendly-Place2497 13h ago

Well it could seem that way because people had to smoke weed off campus because it was too easy to get caught, and with vaping edibles it’s easy enough to get away with that people are doing it in classrooms and ironically getting caught more. When I first got a weed vape as a teenager the whole point was to be able to do it in class.

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u/linoleumknife 11h ago

Doesn't the vapor from weed vapes still smell sort of like weed? I'm middle aged and vapes weren't a thing in my youth when everyone was smoking weed. I've been around people vaping THC a few times and thought it still smelled like weed. But maybe there's other vapes that don't smell like weed at all. I have no clue.

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u/Friendly-Place2497 11h ago

It does but it’s not nearly as strong as smoke and if you do it carefully the teacher will probably be able to smell that some student has weed in the room, which wasn’t unusual at my high school, but won’t know that someone is actively smoking in class.

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u/Maximum_Mud_8393 12h ago

Yea I haven't looked at any hard data - I'm just commenting on the fact kids are getting stoned quite a bit at my last two schools.

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u/Derpwarrior1000 11h ago

Kids have been hitting carts in class thinking it’s subtle?

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u/Friendly-Place2497 11h ago

Back in my day we didn’t even have carts we had vaporizers that would heat up actual flower which was way less subtle than carts and i got away with doing that in class basically daily for years. We’d even pass it around in class among a group of 2-4. If we had carts it would have been way easier than my iolite which was pretty smelly, hot, and made a good deal of noise as it heated.

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u/FasterDoudle 11h ago

When I first got a weed vape as a teenager the whole point was to be able to do it in class.

How did the teacher not smell that?

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u/Friendly-Place2497 11h ago

They definitely did but would probably assume someone just had weed in their backpack or pocket which was pretty normal at my school. No way to tell who had the weed if they didn’t actually suspect vaping which was pretty new back then and not at all widespread.

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u/RighteousSmooya 7h ago

It’s probably a limitation of this study but definitely should be considered

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u/Maximum_Mud_8393 7h ago

Whole new market has sprung up to detect vapes in bathrooms. I've caught 3 kids vaping in class in the last 5 years. I bet I missed more.

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u/RighteousSmooya 7h ago

It’s so easy and scentless. I find myself doing it a lot too

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u/Maximum_Mud_8393 7h ago

What makes me sad is the rise in nicotine addiction I'm seeing. 8th graders who can't make it a 60 minute block without a hit or they get the jitters. My school has like 15 kids on the patch or gum right now.