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The biannual Arizona Criminal Justice Commission's Arizona Youth Survey shows teens in the state have stopped using most kinds of drugs. But marijuana use continues to rise.
Nearly one-third of teen students surveyed reported using marijuana in their lifetime, with about 14 percent saying they used marijuana in the past month.
Marijuana moved up to the second-most commonly used drug among teens, passing tobacco and lagging behind alcohol.
The study also showed a flattening in bullying trends, with in-person bullying going up to about 31 percent. But cyber-bullying decreased by 26 percent.
The Arizona Youth Survey is conducted in public high schools in the state on a voluntary basis. The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission said it believes the survey is a valuable tool for leaders around the state.
“What this report does for policy makers on the state and local level is being able to look at that information and say, ‘Is it increasing or decreasing in our community, and do we need to focus resources on certain areas around those things to see if we can try and bring those numbers down,'" said Andrew LeFevre, public information officer of the commission.
Students from all 15 counties participated in the survey, totaling about 48,000.
They were from 8th, 10th and 12th grade.
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