BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — About a third of 12th graders surveyed as a part of a nationwide poll said they have used alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes or marijuana in the past 30 days.
It’s the largest percentage of teens abstaining from those substances recorded since 2017.
I talked with an expert on youth addiction prevention and two teens in a Depew High School program about their thoughts.
Gwendolyn Bork, president of FOCUS (For Our Community, Unity and Support), said those figures track with what her group has seen among long teens.
Surveys of teens in Lancaster and Depew have shown a steady decrease in substance abuse.
She said alcohol among teens dropped from 28% in 2021 to 16% in 2023 and use of marijuana dropped from 14% to 12% during that same time period.
Bork says it’s important to make sure young people have positive social activities.
"So that means you want to be around other people you want to go out and meet with your friends and do fun stuff so it's just an opportunity to be with other people, other youth and do something that is with a group of people,” she said.
Two students, Emmit Hunter and Bailey Adamczyk, who are members of Students Against Destructive Decisions, said they agree that kids their age don’t use as much alcohol or cigarettes as previous generations did.
But they think a lot of teens are vaping – including marijuana.
“Substance abuse is skyrocketing,” Hunter said. “I personally believe they don’t have the resources or the comfort to say anything.”
Adamczyk believes social media is a factor and she’s been trying to not be so reliant on her phone.
"I try not to, but sometimes I will admit I will be on my phone and like I wish sometimes I wasn't because I could be doing so many different things," said Adamczyk.
Hunter hopes parents are paying attention.
"It is not the same time as when they were a kid and that there are new problems that can't just be [solved by] being a better parent than your parent was. It's something that our parents have never experienced before and they need to find new ways of approaching it," said Hunter.
