Survey: More students doing drugs, smoking, or drinking

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – A new survey finds that the “high” in high school may reference more than just higher academic achievement.

Nearly nine out of 10 high school students say that some of their classmates are either drinking alcohol, doing drugs, or smoking cigarettes during the school day.

The research is according to the 17th annual Back-to-School Survey from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

Almost half of students say they know a fellow teenager selling drugs on campus, compared to just over a third of students last year.

Three out of four teens who saw pictures on social networking sites of their peers partying with alcohol or marijuana said the images encourage teens to party in the same way.

Teens exposed to such pictures were four times more likely to have used marijuana and more than three times more likely to have used alcohol.

However, when teens said their parents would be extremely upset if they used marijuana, they were four times less likely to smoke pot.