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While Mayor Bloomberg is trying to make the whole city healthy, our kids are going to pot!
The percentage of city teens who get high on weed jumped to 17.7 percent last year — by far the highest rate during Hizzoner’s 10-year tenure, according to a new health survey obtained by The Post. The blunt figure is up from the 12.3 percent who smoked weed in 2005.
“Every kid my age does it, but it is not a good thing,’’ said Catherine Reyes, 16, of Brooklyn. “They can end up in bad situations.”
The boost in marijuana use was just one of the alarming findings in the biannual youth-risk behavior survey put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The same report also found that nearly a third of underage teens drink booze. In another blow to the health-conscious “Nanny’’ Bloomberg, the statistics show that many city kids are big couch potatoes, too.
More than one in four — 28 percent — are overweight or obese, and 21 percent still drink sugary soda, although that’s down from 28 percent in 2005.
The Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health is expected to pass a rule next month banning soda drinks larger than 16 ounces from being served at eateries and bodegas.
Part of teens’ problem is 80 percent don’t get the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise.
Nearly six in 10 kids said they don’t have daily gym class in school. In New York, it’s not a requirement in high school.
Half of the teens surveyed don’t even ride a bike. Instead, 44 percent play video games or surf the Web for fun on school days, and 38 percent watch more than three hours of TV daily.
Cynthia Sumpter, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn, says she knows her habits are bad but explains she’s just a typical teen.
“I eat too much junk food — sometimes two times a day and more than twice a week. I know it puts me at risk to be overweight,” Sumpter said. “I use my BlackBerry to text, and I’m on Facebook all the time — at school, at lunch and when I get home.”
For many teens, sex seems to be their only physical activity.
Nearly 38 percent said they’ve already had sexual intercourse — almost half before age 13.
Despite the findings, a Health Department rep insisted, “New York City youth remain in better shape than their peers around the country when it comes to physical education and obesity, as well as rates of alcohol and illicit drug abuse.”
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli and Yoav Gonen