HHS HealthBeat (December 26, 2007)

Good stuff about the kids

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

There are signs of progress about keeping kids from smoking and using drugs.

The latest Monitoring the Future report, researched at the University of Michigan and supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, shows it in eighth graders.

The proportion of eighth graders who smoked cigarettes daily was down to 3 percent in 2007, from above 10 percent in 1996. 

Past-year marijuana use, which had been above 18 percent of eighth graders in 1996, was around 10 percent in 2007.

The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow:

``This is very good news because it decreases the likelihood that they will become problematic drug users later on in life.’’ (8 seconds)

But the report has signs of problems, such as continued abuse of prescription drugs by high schoolers.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008