New Study Shows Decrease in Teen Substance Abuse

A recent study from CNN shows that the drug and alcohol abuse among high school aged students has decreased over the years nationally.

Robyn Sall of Fargo Cass Public Health says that in the F–M area there has also been a decrease in alcohol use among high school aged kids, but the numbers of pill and marijuana use has remained the same.

Sall says the decrease can be attributed to the Strategic Prevention Framework state incentive program, which allowed every high school to choose a specific program to teach students about the effects of alcohol abuse.

“There were many many different strategies that they could have chosen for the prevention of underage drinking,” said Sall. ” One of the strategies could have been curriculum and each community picked different strategies, but the strategies had to be evidence based.”

Sall says any type of prevention program is a way to keep decreasing the numbers.