When it comes to teens and marijuana, there’s good news and there’s bad news. Here’s the good news: teen use of pot has decreased 25% since 2001. That translates to about 2.3 million kids using pot at least once a month.

But here’s the bad news: teens who have been depressed at some time over the course of the last year are more than twice as likely to have smoked marijuana than teens who haven’t been depressed. According to a White House report, that means 25% of depressed teens are using pot. Other important stats to know in regards to teens, depression, and drugs are listed below:

• Using pot increases a teen’s risk of developing a mental disorder by 40%
• Teens who smoke marijuana when depressed are more than twice as likely to get addicted to it
• Teens who use marijuana at least once a month for a year or longer are 3 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than teens who don’t use

As the experts point out, pot is not going away anytime soon and parents can’t stick their heads in the sand about the topic. If parents notice behavioral changes in their teens like withdrawing from family, changing friend groups, not caring about their hygiene or appearance, they need to find out what’s wrong. Changes in behavior could signal depression or drug use or both.