Synthetic marijuana like K2 and Spice are becoming less popular among the teens who are increasingly turning to the real stuff, reveals a recent national survey report.
A survey, Monitoring the Future, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse was conducted by researchers at University of Michigan. The researchers surveyed nearly 41, 675 high school students in public and private schools since 1975 over a span of 38 years.
Around 8 percent of high school seniors admitted to having synthetic marijuana this year, a sharp fall from 11 percent in 2012. Many teenagers believe synthetic marijuana contains harmful chemicals and the real drug to be much safer, reports freep.
"Young people are getting the wrong message from the medical marijuana and legalization campaigns," said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, according to an Associated Press report."If it's continued to be talked about as a benign substance that has no ill effects, we're doing a great disservice to young people by giving them that message."
Synthetic marijuana contains the dried plant along with certain chemicals and preservatives. The Drug Enforcement Administration banned a number of chemicals used in preparing synthetic marijuana in 2011, yet the usage has increased rather than stopped.
In 2012, the U.S. health authorities identified two new types of synthetic marijuana, which led to the death of more than 200 people in Colorado.
While the usage of synthetic marijuana is on the decline, the real drug is becoming increasingly popular among the teens. In 2013 one in every 15 high school seniors reported having marijuana on a daily basis compared to one in every 50 in 1993 as the survey report claims.
The survey also stated one in every four high school seniors reportedly smoked marijuana in the month before the survey. Thirty six percent of high school students smoked marijuana last year, but the usage increased by 4 percent (40 percent) this year.
Among the 10 the standard students the consumption level was slightly lower with 30 percent students smoking marijuana last year and 18 percent in the month before the survey; 4 percent smoked daily. In 2013, nearly one third of the 10 graders (32 percent) were found to have smoked marijuana.
Around 12 percent of eighth-graders smoked marijuana last year. In 2013, 15 percent of class eight students surveyed admitted to taking the drug.
According to the researchers, the increase in real marijuana usage among the teenagers is a consequence of the youths considering the real drug to be less dangerous. In 1993 around 60 percent of the high school students considered the drug to be harmful, which has come down to less than 40 percent in 2013.
The survey also said that bath salts, another synthetic drug, are increasingly becoming popular among teens. Bath salt usage is not as high as marijuana with less than one percent of the students surveyed admitting to using the drug.
