By: Ty Brennan

A recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has some startling results about teens and drugs.

In their study, they found that 40 percent of teens could get marijuana within a day; another quarter said they could get it within an hour.  In another portion of the survey, teens between the ages of 12 and 17 say it's easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs.  That number is up 37 percent from 2007.

But, local law enforcement says these numbers don't match up to what's happening here in east Idaho.

Kim Ellis, Pocatello Police department: "That's something that we're seeing here, but as far as what we're seeing the statistics don't bear out, that way, we're seeing a lot more underage consumption citations than marijuana, possession of marijuana."

According the Pocatello Police Department, since the beginning of the year there were 58 alcohol violations with minors younger than 18, while there were only 12 marijuana violations.

Law enforcement credit's this to in school programs like "DARE" and having school resource officers available. For more information about the study: www.casacolumbia.org

http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=11003084

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[**Note: The CASA study actually reported that teens could more readily access pot than beer or prescription drugs; the percentage of teens reporting that either marijuana or cigarettes were the "easiest to buy" were equal (26 percent) -- got to love the mainstream media's dedication to accuracy in reporting. That said, the percentage of Americans actually smoking cigarettes is now at an all-time low.]

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So I ask ya, who is really winning the war on drugs?  To me it sounds like the only people winning in this situation are the drug dealers.  It's certainly not the taxpayers and it's certainly not the kids who are able to get their hands on these things.

Legalize and tax the shit already!!!