The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for 2001 found a 49-percent increase in adolescent admissions to treatment facilities that receive public funding from 1992 to 2001. According to the data, 141,403 children ages 12-17 were admitted to treatment in 2001, compared to 95,000 in 1992.

The TEDS further found that 62 percent of the adolescent admissions in 2001 were linked to marijuana misuse, up from 23 percent in 1992.

"The increase in youth admissions to drug treatment is the continued fallout from the rise in marijuana use by young people in the 1990's," said SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie. "Unfortunately, many of these young people are not getting help until they become entangled in the criminal-justice system."

TEDS also indicated that marijuana use is beginning at an early age, with 26 percent of the adolescents admitted to treatment first using marijuana by age 12 and 56 percent by age 14.

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