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Statistics
Alcohol
- Eight
young people a day die in alcohol-related crashes.
- Alcohol
kills more teenagers than all other drugs combined. It is
a factor in the three leading causes of death among 15-24
year olds: accidents, homicides, and suicides.
- Over
33% of all deaths for people aged 15-20 result from motor
vehicle crashes. In 1996, almost two out of five of these
motor vehicle fatalities involved alcohol.
- Students
with GPAs of D or F drink three times as much as those who
earn A's.
- Youth
who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use other illicit
drugs and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young
people who never drink.
Visit
the In the Know Zone alcohol pages to learn more about the
problems associated with alcohol.
Tobacco
- Almost
90% of all regular smokers began before the age of 18.
- Teens
who smoke cigarettes are over 13 times as likely to try
heroin as teens who don’t smoke.
- In
1930, the lung cancer death rate for men was 4.9 per 100,000;
by 1984, the rate had increased to 87 per 100,000.
- The
lung cancer rate among women has increased by 600% in the
last fifty years, along with cigarette consumption by women.
- Since
1985 lung cancer has been the #1 cancer killer of women,
surpassing breast cancer.
- Chewing
tobacco (or spit tobacco) also contains nicotine and has
at least 28 cancer-causing chemicals!
- Spit
tobacco users have a nine times greater risk of developing
gum disease than non-users.
Visit
the In the Know Zone alcohol pages to learn more about
the problems associated with alcohol.
All
Drugs
- 90%
of cocaine users used tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana
before they ever tried cocaine.
- 80%
of people aged 12-18 don’t use marijuana and don’t think
it’s okay to use marijuana.
- 72%
of youth, ages 12-17, have never used illicit drugs in their
lifetime.
- 9%
of 12-17 year olds are current, past month users of illicit
drugs. This is a 21% drop between 1997-1999.
- There
were 2.3 million new marijuana users in 1998. This is 11%
fewer than the 2.6 million in 1997.
- Among
teenagers, there was an increase in the perception that
drug use is harmful and socially unacceptable.
- Teens
who eat dinner often with their parents are less likely
to abuse substances.
- A
child who reaches the age of 21 without using drugs, smoking
cigarettes, or abusing alcohol is almost certain never to
do so.
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