Teen Drinking Down — Teen Marijuana Use Up

With school back in session a lot of parents fear the impact of peer pressure on their kids choices regarding drugs and alcohol.  While each kid and circumstance is unique, a  new U.S. government report says the percentage of teens who are using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes is falling.The annual survey by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates -
--The rate kids between ages 12 and 17 said they had drank alcohol fell from 17.6

percent in 2002 to 11.5 percent by 2014.
--Abuse of prescription narcotic painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin  fell from 3.2 percent to 1.9 percent.
--Smoking and tobacco product use rates fell from 15.2 percent to just 7 percent.

Now the bad news… rates of heroin and marijuana use by teens are climbing:
--The number of teens using marijuana rose from 9.4 percent to 10.2 percent in a single year, from 2013 to 2014. The researchers says that increase is due, in part, to "the increase in adult marijuana use."
--The rate at which teens under 18 used heroin rose in that same one year period rose from 0.1 to 0.2 percent.