President Barack Obama’s chief anti-drug official says marijuana is becoming more popular among U.S. teens and they have cut down on smoking cigarettes, binge drinking and meth use.

Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske (ker-lih-KOW’-skee) on Monday released the survey of about 47,000 eighth, 10th and 12th graders.

It finds 20.6 percent of this year’s 12th graders said they used marijuana within the past month, compared with 18.3 percent in 2006.

Lloyd Johnston directed the study and says more teens are getting high on prescription drugs, and fewer of them see Ecstasy and pot as harmful.

On the Net:

Monitoring the Future: http://www.monitoringthefuture.com

National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.nida.nih.gov