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In a new study, it was revealed that only a handful of students smoked cigarettes or cigars. Most of them were seen smoking marijuana suggests a recent study. There has been a decline in students between grades 9 and 12 who were smoking the traditional tobacco cigarettes. There has been a drop of 7.4% since 2013 from a whopping 20.5% students since 1997. However, there has been a shocking increase in marijuana consumption that has more than doubled from 4.2% students to a staggering 10.2% in the duration of the study period, reports Yahoo News.

Thanks to the growing awareness of tobacco health hazards and efforts of the public health departments that the cigarette use has declined amongst the teens. But since the legalization of medical marijuana, the common teen perception has changed regarding pot thinking it to be useful rather than harmful, said lead author of the study, Italia Rolle. Dr. Timothy McAfee, senior medical officer in CDC office said in an email that, "Parents should be aware that despite significant declines since 1997, approximately 30 percent of white, black and Hispanic U.S. high school students were current users of cigarettes, cigars or marijuana in 2013". McAfee added that, "It's also important to note that this does not include other tobacco products such as hookah and e-cigarettes, which have become increasingly popular among U.S. youth in recent years," says The Columbus Dispatch.

The study notes that there have been racial differences amongst the teens that use cigarettes, cigars or marijuana. The survey was conducted between thousands of students in public and private schools nationwide. The white students showed a decline in use of tobacco and marijuana during the study period. There was also a decline noticed in Hispanic and black students until 2007. However, it has been increasing since for the Black students and the Hispanic statistics remain unaffected, reports Reuters.