Marijuana is more popular with teenagers than tobacco, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported.

“For 12th-graders, declines in cigarette use accompanied by recent increases in marijuana use have put marijuana ahead of cigarette smoking by some measures,” a NIDA statement revealed. “In 2010, 21.4 percent of high school seniors used marijuana in the past 30 days, while 19.2 percent smoked cigarettes.”

Other illicit drugs, such as Ecstasy, have also risen in popularity with teens over the last decade, according to the institute.

“In other words, about half of the high school seniors in the class of 2010 have tried an illicit drug, and well over a third have used on one or more occasions in the prior 12 months,” the report stated.

NIDA director Nora Volkow said in an Associated Press article that marijuana use by adolescents can cause complications later in life.

“These high rates of marijuana use during the teen and pre-teen years, when the brain continues to develop, place our young people at particular risk,” she said.