14 DAY TRIAL // In a new investigation conducted on Indiana children in the sixth through twelfth grades, researchers determined that the incidence of marijuana and pipe tobacco use has increased considerably.
What is weird about the new results is that they show cigarette consumption has decreased markedly from past studies, which means that kids replace them with either pot or pipe tobacco.
The conclusions belong to the 20th Annual Survey of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use, which was conducted by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at the Indiana University Bloomington.
The work was funded by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration's (IFFSA) Division of Mental Health and Addiction.
Research teams applied questionnaires to more than 169,000 students, who were enrolled in 523 public and private schools. One of the main conclusions is that marijuana use is soaring beyond control.
“We are seeing a trend in increased marijuana use. The numbers have been increasing since 2008. This may be signaling a lack of concern about the use of this drug, which is illegal in the state of Indiana,” explains Ruth Gassman.
“Marijuana has been shown to impair a person's ability to learn and concentrate, and it reduces short-term memory. Marijuana use also increases heart rate and affects your ability to drive,” says the expert, who is also the director of the IPRC.
The Center is a part of the IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
When compared to last year's data, the new study showed that 12th graders registered a drop of 3.2 percentage points in their use of cigarettes, which is a very massive decrease.
Even younger students exhibited a reduction trend, which is a very positive result.
“This is good news for Indiana as it shows that tobacco prevention efforts in our state including those by the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Agency (ITPC) and the Tobacco Retailer Inspection Program (TRIP) are working,” Gassman believes.
A large increase was however observed across the board in monthly and lifetime use of tobacco in pipes. “It's important that states monitor various forms of tobacco intake because pipe use likely is not just a trend in Indiana,” the IPRC director adds.
“It should be monitored due to the risk of serious health consequences such as the potential to develop heart and gum disease as well as lung cancer,” she goes on to say.
“Our survey data provides communities with valuable prevention program planning tools. Annual survey results are vital for funding community prevention initiatives due to private and federal grant data requirements,” Gassman concludes.