On any given day, half a million teens get high

Report describes average day for many kids spent drinking and smoking
Reuters News Service

WASHINGTON - A snapshot of an average day in the lives of U.S. teens shows hundreds of thousands are smoking, drinking and ingesting illegal drugs, according to a report from the federal government.

On an average day, nearly 1.2 million teenagers smoked cigarettes, 631,000 drank and 586,000 used marijuana, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found.

Nearly 50,000 used inhalants, 27,000 used hallucinogens, 13,000 used cocaine and 3,800 used heroin, SAMHSA said in its report.

The report also attempted to show how many adolescents ages 12 to 17 used illegal substances for the first time.

One any given day, it said:
-Nearly 8,000 adolescents drank alcohol for the first time
-4,300 adolescents used an illicit drug for the first time
-4,000 smoked cigarettes for the first time
-3,600 adolescents used marijuana for the first time
-2,500 youngsters abused pain relievers for the first time.

More than 76,000 children and teens were in outpatient treatment for alcohol or drug abuse, the report said, and 10,000 in non-hospital residential treatment.

See: On any given day, half a million teens get high