Marijuana is the illegal drug most often used in this country. Since 1991, lifetime marijuana use has doubled among 8th- and 10th-grade students, and increased by a third among high school seniors. Our research shows that accompanying this upward pattern of use is a significant erosion in antidrug perceptions and knowledge among young people today. As the number of young people who use marijuana has increased, the number who view the drug as harmful has decreased. Among high school seniors surveyed in 1997, current marijuana use has increased by about 72 percent since 1991. The proportion of those seniors who believe regular use of marijuana is harmful has dropped by about 26 percent since 1991.

The only way to prevent your child from using drugs is to be open, talk to them, warn them, be aware of everything going on in your child's life.

These changes in perception and knowledge may be due to a decrease in antidrug messages in the media, an increase in prodrug messages through the pop culture, and a lack of awareness among parents about this resurgence in drug use - most thinking, perhaps, that this threat to their children had diminished.
In December 1994, HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala, Ph.D., called for an Initiative to alert the public - particularly parents - to the rise in marijuana use, its potential health consequences to young people, and the need for parents to take action to prevent the return of a full-blown epidemic of teenage drug use.

There's a dialogue going on. If there is experimentation, I'm going to know and be able to respond.

Because many parents of this generation of teenagers experimented with marijuana when they were in college, they often find it difficult to talk about marijuana use with their children and to set strict ground rules against drug use. But marijuana use today starts at a younger age - and more potent forms of the drug are available to these young children. Parents need to recognize that marijuana use is a serious threat - and they need to tell their children not to use it.
We at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are pleased to offer these two short booklets, Marijuana: Facts for Teens and Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know, for parents and their children to review the scientific facts about marijuana. While it is best to talk about drugs when children are young, it is never too late to talk about the dangers of drug use.
Talking to our children about drug abuse is not always easy, but it is very important. I hope these booklets can help.

Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D.
Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse