More Teens Are Using Synthetic Marijuana, Less Using Tobacco

Nearly one in every nine high school students has tried a synthetic drug made to mimic marijuana. The drugs, “K2” and “Spice” being popular ones, are still dangerous. Monitoring the Future, the nation’s most popular survey from the University of Michigan regarding teenage drug use, found that 11.4% of high school students experiment with synthetic drugs nationwide. The drugs are often packaged as potpourri or herbal incense and sold in stores. United States officials are trying to outlaw over sixteen different synthetic drugs from the country. Proving that these drugs are dangerous, the U.S. Poison Control received 5,741 calls about synthetic drugs in the first ten months of 2011 alone. Most synthetic drugs have the same consequences as the real deal, but teenagers do not realize this. Although high school students use these dangerous drugs, tobacco and alcohol use is at an all-time low since 1975. Students are instructed of the dangers of alcohol and smoking tobacco, but not so much about synthetic drugs. High school kids use fake drugs, marijuana, and other illegal drugs more so than tobacco and alcoholic drinks.

I think that something needs to be done as soon as possible about drug use in the United States. Drugs do nothing good for the country or general human population. High school students in particular focus only on drugs instead of school work and their future. Since more students are using hardcore drugs such as marijuana instead of tobacco (which is still dangerous), the U.S. is becoming a drug-filled place. If U.S. officials aren’t going to do anything about these drugs, they should at least charge a tax on the drug to help the country out of their debt problems.