According to some of the most current teen drug addiction statistics, illegal drug and alcohol use among teenagers is currently on the rise in the United States. Many teenagers assume that alcohol and various other types of drugs are reasonably safe, when in fact they are often highly addictive and can cause severe side effects.
The following are some of the most recent government statistics regarding teenage drug and alcohol abuse:
The current costs that are related to underage drinking in the United States totals more than $58 billion a year.
Over 39% of the teenagers who begin drinking when they are under the age of 12 will develop alcoholism later in life.
Approximately 11% of teens who began drinking at the age of 16 years old will develop alcohol dependence later in life.
One out of every ten teens in the U.S., said that they have attended a rave at which ecstasy and various other drugs were readily available.
Teens that drink are twice as likely to use cocaine as teens who have never consumed alcohol.
Well over 50% percent of teenagers who drink alcohol say that they initially got the alcohol from their own home.
Alcohol kills over seven times more teenagers than all other illicit drugs combined.
Teenagers whose parents talk to them about the dangers of drug use are reported to be over 40% percent less likely to use drugs in comparison to adolescents whose parents do not.
Over 60% of teens in the United States reported that various drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.
In the United States during 2009, over 23% percent of 8th grade students reported that they have tried marijuana.
During 2009 in the U.S., over 28 percent of teens that were over the age of 12, reported knowing a classmate or friend who has used ecstasy.
Approximately 20% of high school seniors in the United States have reported using amphetamines at least once.
Over one-quarter of teenage drug arrests in the United States were related to amphetamine use.
Over 25% of individuals in the United States that were between the ages of 12-20 have reported using alcohol within the past month.
Among race demographics in the United States, white males that were between the ages of 12-20 reported the highest percentage of underage alcohol use within the past 30 days.
During the period of 2008-2009, the past month illicit drug use rate among youth that are ages 12-27 has increased, after six previous years of decline.
During 2009, over 20 million American teenagers that were 12 or older reported using an illicit drug within the past month.
During 2009, approximately 7% of teenagers in the U.S. reported using marijuana at least once.
During 2008, it is estimated that over 12% of persons in the U.S. that were 12 or older drove while being under the influence of alcohol, or some other type of drug.
During 2008, approximately 11,700 people were killed in alcohol related accidents; this figure accounted for almost one-third of all of the traffic-related deaths during than 2008.