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Are There Drugs at Your Teen’s High School?

As a parent, you need to be aware of the situation regarding drugs and high schools. To bury your head in the sand and assume your child’s school is clean of drugs or that your teen would never succumb to the temptation to experiment with drugs is dangerous. High school drug use statistics inform us about the extent to which drugs are present in high schools and among teenagers generally. Learn the facts and have a serious talk with your teen.

Statistics on Teen Drug Use

Did you know that nearly half of all high school seniors have tried some type of drug? Teens are experimenters and risk-takers. To some degree this is normal, but to abuse drugs is neither normal nor a safe type of experimentation. We also know that a significant proportion of this drug use begins even before high school: as many as 15 percent of students in the eighth grade have abused a drug at least once. The most popular drug of abuse for young people, according to teenage drug statistics, is marijuana. Only alcohol is used more often than marijuana by teens. Forty-three percent of seniors in high school have smoked pot. Seniors are also using synthetic marijuana at a rate of one in nine. Rates of use of other drugs are lower, but significant. Nearly 8% of teens in high school have abused Adderall, while almost 9% have tried a hallucinogen like LSD.

Drugs in High Schools

When it comes to drugs in school, the facts are clear: drugs are there and teens know it. It makes sense that if so many teens are experimenting with drugs that they would be in schools. One of the most common types of drugs found in high schools is prescription medication. Teens often mistake these drugs for being low-risk, and they may abuse narcotic painkillers or ADHD medications. Sixty-four percent of teenagers say that they abused prescription painkillers that came from a family member or a friend at school. Just about as many teens say that they know about drugs being used in their school building and being sold or stored on school property or in cars in the parking lot. The facts about teens doing drugs in school or getting drugs from friends in school are upsetting for any parent. However, remaining ignorant about the facts doesn’t help. Now that you know just how prevalent drug use is among teens and how easy it is to find drugs in high schools, you need to talk to your teen. The teens whose parents talk to them about drugs and what they expect when it comes to drug use are much less likely to experiment. Have that talk today.

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