Marijuana use, including hemp vapor cigarettes, increased among college students aged 19-22 years between 2013 and 2018, as well as a significant increase in nicotine vapor cigarettes. The survey was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and conducted by the Michigan Institute for Social Research. The survey was conducted in 2018. The marijuana smoking survey showed that college students and non-college peers had similar rates of marijuana use in the past year, about 43 percent. Over the past 35 years, the highest rate of marijuana use in both groups was 7% over 5 years. However, the frequency of drug use was much higher among the non-college group, with about one in nine non-college respondents smoking marijuana daily or nearly daily. In comparison, only one in 17 college students had this high frequency of use. The prevalence of marijuana vapor smoking among college students doubled between 2017 and 2018, from 5.2% to 10.9% in the most recent 1 month. In 2018, the prevalence of marijuana use among non-college peers in the most recent 1 month remained stable at 7.9%, compared to 7.8% in 2017.
It is not uncommon to see comments on various social media advising others to take drugs. For example, "It's a great stress reliever, take a hit and you'll forget all your worries and stress", "It's not heroin, don't worry! There's no harm in it." These celebrities are doing meth, what are you afraid of," "And everyone is doing it, so what are you afraid of? These comments are very common on various social media. And for teenagers, heroin in powder form may be something they have the heart to reject, but drugs like meth, methamphetamine, and ecstasy. What about these synthetic drugs? With the persuasion of drug users, it is not clear whether they will accept them. The real solution to the problem of youth drug use is to educate young people, especially students, about drugs and the dangers of drugs.
“Overdose Death Rates.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 Feb. 2022, https://nida.nih.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.