College Kids Using More Marijuana

The Yakima City Council is considering changes to the city’s new legal marijuana zones and as they do information continues to come out about the health and crime problems associated with the drug.  Example - American college students' use of marijuana continues to increase.

A new study from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research found the proportion of college students who reported use of marijuana in the last year rose from 30 percent in 2006 to 38 percent in 2015.  The good news is that at the same time the appeal of other drugs, including amphetamines and opioids, seems to be waning.

CBS news reports that daily or near-daily pot use (20 or more times in the previous 30 days) reached nearly six percent in 2014 –that’s the highest level of daily use in the last 34 years. But it then fell slightly to less than five percent in 2015.

One possible reason for growing use of marijuana may be a decrease in perceived risk. The proportion of young adults ages 19 to 22 who consider regular marijuana use dangerous fell from 58 percent in 2003 to 33 percent in 2015.

The DEA recently concluded marijuana still belonged on the list of dangerous drugs with no medical benefit.