Teen drug consumption is on the rise in the United States after years of decline. Marijuana is the major substance involved, but use of the hallucinogen Ecstasy also has risen. The trends are reported in "Monitoring the Future," an annual survey of high school students conducted since 1975 by University of Michigan researchers. The latest survey results are adding fuel to the ongoing national debate over drug policy. Some experts argue that a recent wave of state medical-marijuana laws, as well as statutes that eliminate criminal penalties for personal use of pot, have persuaded teens that drugs such as marijuana are innocuous. That notion is especially dangerous to young people predisposed to addiction, specialists in teen drug use say. Proponents of drug legalization counter that no hard evidence exists of a connection between teen use and drug-law changes.

Peter Katel is a CQ Researcher contributing writer who previously reported on Haiti and Latin America for Time and Newsweek and covered the Southwest for newspapers in New Mexico. He has received several journalism awards, including the Bartolomé Mitre Award for drug coverage from the Inter-American Press Association and awards for investigative and interpretive reporting from the New Mexico Press Association. He holds an A.B. in university studies from the University of New Mexico.