Substance Abuse will Lower Your Grades at School

Scientists have found a strong association between alcohol and tobacco use, marijuana use and ecstasy use with academic achievement.

Using data from the National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States, have found a strong association between alcohol and tobacco use, marijuana use and ecstasy use with academic achievement.
A larger proportion of non-drug users had higher average grades in school (average As or Bs) as compared to those using these substances. Though 14 per cent of the non-drug users reported an average grade of C, 20 per cent of alcohol and tobacco users and 30 per cent of both marijuana and ecstasy users reported the same average grade. While 2 per cent of the non-drug users reported average grades of D or less in their last school year, 4 per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the alcohol/tobacco, marijuana and ecstasy users, respectively, reported average grades of D. The proportion of those who said that their school does not give grades varied from less than 4 per cent among alcohol and tobacco users to almost 7 per cent of the ecstasy users.
Alcohol/tobacco users were almost two times more likely than non-drug users to report moderate (average Cs) and low grades (average grades of D or less) in their last school year. Marijuana users were three and seven times more likely than non-drug users to report average C and D grades or less in their last school year and ecstasy users were four and 12 times more likely. Both marijuana and ecstasy users were also more likely to say that their school does not give grades in comparison to the non-drug users.

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