CDC Study: More U.S. Teens Now Smoking Pot More Than Tobacco
(CBSSacramento.com) - U.S. teens are smoking more pot than they do tobacco, which may be due to perceptions that it's not as harmful as previously thought, say health officials.
Results of a study by the Centers for Disease Control were released today and state that since 2010, the proportion of high school seniors using marijuana surpassed those using cigarettes.
The biggest increases were identified among black and Hispanic students toward the end of the study period for exclusive marijuana use and marijuana use among cigarette or cigar users.
During the study, which was conducted among high school seniors between 2007 and 2013, exclusive cigarette or cigar use declined overall by 64%, from 20.5% to 7.4%; however, marijuana use more than doubled overall from 4.2% to 10.2%.
The CDC states increases in marijuana use among U.S. teens might be attributable to decreasing perceptions of harm.
The study did not measure hookah use; electronic nicotine delivery systems such as e-cigarettes and vape pens; or blunts, a tobacco cigar which has had most of all the tobacco removed and replaced with marijuana.