| Alcohol and Other Drug Use Risk Behaviors |
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Alcohol Use |
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Marijuana Use |
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Cocaine or Inhalants Use Among High School Students |
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Steroid Use or Illegal Drug Injection |
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Heroin or Methamphetamines Use |
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Tobacco or Other Drug Use on School Property |
Alcohol and Other Drug Use |
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| Rationale: These questions measure frequency of alcohol use, age of initiation, heavy drinking, and drinking on school property. Alcohol is a major contributing factor in approximately half of all homicides, suicides, and motor vehicle crashes, which are the leading causes of death and disability among young people. Heavy drinking among youth has been linked to multiple sexual partners, use of marijuana, and poor academic performance. | |
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| Overall, 40% of middle school students have had a drink of alcohol other then a few sips. | Overall, 52% of high school students reported having had a drink of alcohol on one or more days during their life. |
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| Overall, 22% of middle school students reported current alcohol use (drank alcohol on one or more of the 30 days preceding the survey). More female students (24%) reported this behavior than male students (20%). | Overall, 39% of high school students reported current alcohol use (drank alcohol on one or more of the past 30 days preceding the survey). |
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| Overall, 28% of high school students reported episodic heavy drinking (drank five or more drinks of alcohol in a row) at least once during the 30 days preceding the survey. Episodic heavy drinking increased with grade. | |
Alcohol and Other Drug Use |
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| Rationale: These questions measure lifetime and current use of marijuana, cocaine, and inhalants and lifetime use of heroin, methamphetamines, ecstasy, hallucinogens, steroids, and injected drugs. In addition to morbidity and mortality due to injury, drug use is related to suicide, early unwanted pregnancy, school failure, delinquency, and transmissions of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Despite improvements in recent years, drug use is greater among youth in the United States than has been documented in any other industrialized nation in the world. In 2001, 42.4% of high school students had used marijuana in their lifetime and 9.4% of high school students had used some form of cocaine in their lifetime. From 1991 to 2001, the percentage of high school students who used cocaine in the past month increased from 1.7% to 4.2%. | |
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| More than one-third, 36% of middle school students reported ever using marijuana. Eighth grade students (50%) were more likely than 6th grade students (20%) to report using marijuana. | Two-thirds, 67% of high school students reported using marijuana one or more times during their life. Twelfth grade students (74%) were more likely than 9th grade students (60%) to report lifetime marijuana use. |
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| Overall, 25% of middle school students reported current marijuana use (used during the 30 days preceding the survey) and rates increased with grade. | Overall, 38% of high school students reported current marijuana use (used during the 30 days preceding the survey). Males (42%) were more likely than females (34%) to report current marijuana use. |
Alcohol and Other Drug Use |
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| Overall, 19% of high school students reported lifetime cocaine use (powder, "crack", "freebase"). Twelfth grade students (21%) were more likely than 9th grade students (15%) to report this behavior. | |
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Overall, 9% of high school students reported lifetime cocaine use (powder, "crack", "freebase") during the 30 days preceding the survey. Twelfth grade students (21%) were more likely than 9th grade students (15%) to report this behavior. |
| Overall, 12% of high school students reported lifetime inhalant use (ever sniffed glue, breathed the contents of aerosol spray cans, or inhaled any paints or sprays to become intoxicated). |  |
| Overall, 3% of high school students reported current inhalant use (sniffed glue, breathed the contents of aerosol spray cans, or inhaled any paints or sprays to become intoxicated) during the 30 days preceding the survey. | |
Alcohol and Other Drug Use |
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| Data for 1997 & 2000 were not available | |
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| Overall, 5% of middle school students ever injected illegal drugs. Five percent of males and females reported this behavior. | Overall, 4% of high school students ever injected illegal drugs. Four percent of males and females reported this behavior. |
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| Overall, only 5% of middle school students ever used steroids illegally. Five percent of males and 4% females reported this behavior. | Overall, 5% of high school students ever used steroids illegally (without a doctor's prescription). |
| Alcohol and Other Drug Use Heroin or Methamphetamines Use |
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 Overall, 5% of high school students reported lifetime heroin use (also called "smack", "junk" or "China White"). |
 Overall, 15% of high school students reported lifetime methamphetamine use (also called "speed"," crystal"," crank", or "ice"). |
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Alcohol and Other Drug Use |
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 Overall, 14% of high school students smoked cigarettes on school property during the 30 days preceding the survey. More males (16%) than females (12%) reported this behavior. Students in 2003 (14%) were less likely than students in 1997 (22%) to have smoked on school property. |
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| Overall, 7% of high school students used smokeless tobacco on school property during the 30 days preceding the survey. | Overall, 14% of high school students drank alcohol on school property during the 30 days preceding the survey. |