Nightly News   |  December 14, 2011

More teens smoke pot than smoke cigarettes

A new study reveals new social trends among teenagers when it comes to drug and alcohol use. Fewer teenagers are drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, but marijuana use is growing. NBC’s Rehema Ellis reports.

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BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: We also got a new look today at teenage alcohol and drug use . And according to this study there's been a big shift when it comes to substance abuse among high school -aged kids. Our education corespondent Rehema Ellis is with us here for more on that. Rehema , good evening.

REHEMA ELLIS reporting: Good evening, Brian . It is an interesting study. Researchers questioned 47,000 students nationwide. Their findings? Tobacco use is down and so is alcohol abuse . Binge drinking among high school seniors is also down from 41 percent in 1981 to 22 percent in percent in 2011 . But marijuana use among teenagers is at the highest rate in 30 years. One in 15 high school seniors reports using marijuana every day. Researchers point to the massive education campaigns warning about the dangers of alcohol and cigarettes as reasons for the decline in the use of those products. And now that anti-marijuana campaigns are in full swing, they are anxious to see what those studies will reveal about teenage behavior next year. Brian :

Source: Monitoring the Future

WILLIAMS: Be a surprise to some parents, not a surprise to others. Rehema , thanks for that.