A new national study released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation indicates that teen drug and alcohol use is headed in the wrong direction, with marked increases in teen use of marijuana and Ecstasy over the past three years. Following a decade of steady declines, the 22nd annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), confirms a disturbing trend that has emerged among American teens since 2008: as underage drinking becomes more normalized among adolescents, parents feel unable to respond to the negative shifts in teen drug and alcohol use.
According to the three-year trend confirmed in this year’s 2010 PATS data, there was a 67 percent increase in the number of teens who reported using Ecstasy in the past year (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2010). Similarly, past-year marijuana use among teens increased by a disturbing 22 percent (from 32 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2010).
Arizona is seeing a disturbing 18 percent increase in marijuana use.
As teen drug and alcohol use take a turn for the worse, a heavier burden is placed squarely on the shoulders of parents - who need to take an active role in preventing abuse in their families, take action if they suspect their child is using and get immediate help for a child who has developed a problem with drugs or drinking.
DrugFreeAZ.org is taking the issue head-on and has developed a program called AZ Parents Connect. This research-based community education program is designed to raise awareness of teen alcohol, marijuana and prescription drug abuse in Arizona by targeting parents, health care professionals and military families. AZ Parents Connect focuses on the three important steps of “prevention, intervention, treatment” through parent workshops, in-person and online community trainings. For more information about AZ Parents Connect, visit www.AzParentsConnect.org.
The PATS survey confirmed our belief that parents feel unprepared to respond to underage drinking by their children. Almost a third of parents (28 percent) feel ‘there is very little parents can do to prevent their kids from trying alcohol.’ One in three teens (32 percent) thinks their parents would be ok if they drank beer once in a while; yet only one in 10 parents agrees with teens drinking beer at a party.
