45% of teenagers never go near drugs

The "normal", mainstream high school kid never touches drugs, according to The National Center On Addiction and Substance Abuse, an organization at Columbia University that publishes studies based on their national surveys of teenagers.

They did a statistically significant sample of U.S. teenagers and identified three categories of 12-17 year olds: high risk (17%), moderate risk (38%) and low risk (45%).

Note that the largest single class ("low risk") at 45% has is marked by these traits:

• None smoke (100 percent did not have a cigarette in past 30 days)


• Few have tried alcohol (six percent, and virtually none drink alcohol
  currently)


• None get drunk in a typical month (100 percent never get drunk)


• Very few have friends who smoke marijuana (one percent)


• Very few know a friend or classmate who uses Ecstasy (four percent)


• Few know user of acid, cocaine, or heroin (9 percent)


• More than half would be unable to buy marijuana (68 percent)


• None have tried marijuana


• A large majority say future drug use “will never happen” (80 percent)
  
   

I want to keep my kids in the low risk category, so this study is encouraging because it shows that, while drug use is still an unfortunate fact of life for many teens, a full 45% of kids never get near the stuff.