Report: Drug use in high school students up

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There are more chilling numbers about Indiana’s children using drugs.

According to the Indiana Youth Institute, one in six Indiana high school students has used drugs. The research is part of the Youth Institute’s yearly kids count data book.

The institute says when children begin using drugs at a young age, they’re more likely to become addicted when they get older. According to the research, marijuana is the most popular drug among teens followed by prescription drugs.

When it comes to smoking and alcohol, 25 percent of high schoolers say they’ve drank in the last month. 19 percent say they’ve used electronic cigarettes – which is a jump from last year.

“It makes it much more difficult to find out when a child is doing that because vaping doesn’t give off the heavy smoke odors that typically burning a cigarette or a marijuana cigarette would give off, which would make a parent or LEO or teacher much more suspicious about what the child is doing,” Glenn Augustine with the Indiana Youth Institute said.

The report also shows a third of Indiana teens 14 and up, have ridden in a car driven by someone who was high or who had been drinking.