Study Says It's Easier For Teens To Buy Marijuana Than Beer

By chillinwill · Aug 28, 2009 · ·
  1. chillinwill
    A recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has some startling results about teens and drugs.

    In their study, they found that 40 percent of teens could get marijuana within a day; another quarter said they could get it within an hour. In another portion of the survey, teens between the ages of 12 and 17 say it's easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs. That number is up 37 percent from 2007.

    But, local law enforcement says these numbers don't match up to what's happening here in east Idaho.

    Kim Ellis, Pocatello Police department: "That's something that we're seeing here, but as far as what we're seeing the statistics don't bear out, that way, we're seeing a lot more underage consumption citations than marijuana, possession of marijuana."

    According the Pocatello Police Department, since the beginning of the year there were 58 alcohol violations with minors younger than 18, while there were only 12 marijuana violations.

    Law enforcement credit's this to in school programs like "DARE" and having school resource officers available. For more information about the study:

    By: Ty Brennan
    August 27, 2009

    Share This Article


  1. ninjaned
    does this come as a surprise? since all marijuana sales are illegal, theres no age limit, with alcohol or cigarettes you have to flash an ID... swim really thought that this was common knowledge. actually in theory legalizing marijuana would make it harder to get (don't tell anyone).
  2. cra$h
    two words: no shit.

    Swim was offered bud daily in highschool. He'd have to go through his whole phone book to get a bottle of liquor.

    The penalties are a lot softer on alchohol than marijuana, so kids are much more reckless, and plus they're drunk. Pot smokers hide out in a house or the woods, and generally don't go around town completely wasted to the degree some drunk would.
  3. Bajeda
    Does this guy understand how statistics work? Numbers =/= Truth in and of themselves.

    Perhaps kids using alcohol tend to engage in ill conceived attention drawing activities whereas kids using cannabis veg out to video games / TV or do something else quiet and unassuming. Or maybe cannabis isn't very popular with the teens where he is but alcohol is, so they drink more than smoke even though cannabis is more readily available. Whatever the case, law enforcment arrest / citation statistics are a poor way to assess prevalence of use.

    Actually... I just looked at the officer's quote again: "That's something that we're seeing here, but as far as what we're seeing the statistics don't bear out, that way, we're seeing a lot more underage consumption citations than marijuana, possession of marijuana."

    It suddenly makes less sense. The officer is saying that the department is seeing what the study describes, but the statistics the department gets demonstrate that the study's results aren't the case over there?

    Ah well, shoddy journalism as usual. Nothing else to discuss really.
  4. ninjaned
    swims never thought of that. thats a good explanation. course not all pot smokers stay indoors, swim knows a few guys that simply can't function without a bowl or two throughout the day.
  5. cra$h
    Yea, that's how it is. Swim was there not too long ago. But as for the potheads that smoke to fuction, well, they can fuction. Those who can't are the ones who get in trouble, which is the drunk ones. the stoned ones just give a blank stare or giggle when faced in a social situation. awkward and obvious yes, but not enough to be obnoxious. then again, they're teens. sober or not they're obnoxious. plus the paranoia marijuana could cause keeps people kool
  6. RedBaron
    Same thing here with baron. He would walk up to "East Side" at school where all the stoners congregated and would immediately have 5 or 6 people rushing at him to buy their weed ha ha. Also for people that do blaze a lot, it is a daily thing where you don't think much about it. Alcohol is more reserved for the parties on the weekend in most cases anyway. This article shouldn't come as a shock to anyone as i thought this was news of the past?
  7. cra$h
    swim was with a couple friends today, they had just blazed, and if they didn't tell swim he would have never guessed. Well, maybe the one guy's eyes were a lil beat, but other than that, they were perfectly normal. If they drank though, it woulda been dangerous, considering the swimmers were driving around
  8. RedBaron
    Oh ya....driving when your stoned, your reflexes might be a little slow but alcohol is a completely different story. Come to think of it, what drug is really as intoxicating as alcohol? In the sense of loss of coordination and lack of control physically and emotionally.
  9. cra$h
    alcohol is the only drug swim's experienced where he can black out and still function. of course he's never endevoured in pcp or other dissociative (except robo, which just doesn't work) but he's done enough to say alcohol is one of the hardest drugs out there, comparing it to cocaine and opiates (excluding heroin)
To make a comment simply sign up and become a member!