Smokin’ study: More college kids using weed than cigarettes

The number of U.S. college students regularly smoking marijuana is greater than it has been in 35 years, according to a study released on Tuesday. Nearly 6 percent of college students reported using pot daily or near daily in 2014, up from 3.5 percent in 2007, the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study found. It is still below the 7.2 percent recorded in 1980. However, it is higher than the 5 percent of students who identified themselves as heavy cigarette smokers, a steep decline from the 19 percent who said they smoked daily in 1999.

It’s clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation’s college students.

Researcher Lloyd Johnston

Loosened marijuana policies in states across the country are likely to have contributed to a rise in use by teens and young adults, who increasingly perceive the drug as harmless, the researchers said. In 2014, 35 percent of 19- to 22-year-old high school graduates said they thought regular marijuana use was dangerous, compared with 55 percent in 2006, the study found. Cocaine also may be making a comeback on campuses, with 4.4 percent of students in 2014 reporting to have used it in the past 12 months compared with 2.7 percent in 2013.

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