'Dad, your drugs are just so boring!' 

Interesting drugs use statistics from the USA which show that use among the young is falling but that there is a so-called 'spike' in use among the baby-boomers.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, just 6.8% of teenagers aged 12 to 17 said they used marijuana in 2005, down from 8.2% in 2002. (Overall illicit drug use also fell, from 11.6% in 2002 who said they had used drugs in the past month to 9.9% in 2005, the report said.)

'Something important is happening with American teens,' John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy told Reuters. 'They are getting the message that using drugs limits their futures, and they are turning away from the destructive patterns and cruelly misinformed perceptions about substance abuse that have so damaged previous generations,'.

But baby boomers, now entering their 50s and 60s, are apparently not all tuning in to the message. The rate of current illicit drug use increased from 2.7% among adults aged 50 to 59 in 2002 to 4.4% in 2005.

The illegal use of alcohol fell among teens, with 16.5% of 12-17-year-olds saying they were drinkers and 9.9% reporting binge drinking -- defined as having five or more drinks in a row. Both are down more than a full percentage point from 2004.

Just over 29% of people said they had smoked or chewed tobacco in the past month.

Among children aged 12 to 17 tobacco use fell to 10.8% in 2005 from 13% in 2002.