Yakima and the Tri Cities --- Marijuana is becoming easier for teens to get than beer.

In early August, cops cut down more than 2,300 plants in one Yakima county bust. You may also remember a couple of weeks ago when cops pulled 134,000 plants after a bust in Burbank.

37% more teens nationwide say marijuana is easier to get than just two years ago. "Do you hear a lot of it going around school?" Action News asked 16-year-old, Dillon Ellwin, who said he doesn't do drugs. "Yes," he replied confidently.

The time it takes to get pot is speeding up according to the CASA survey. 40% of teens say they can get it in a day. Nearly a quarter of teens say they can have it in hand in less than an hour. "It's not government controlled like beer. Beer you have to have a license, then you have to get carded," 18-years-old, Jasper Luna reasoned. He said he doesn't do drugs either.

Now many schools in Yakima, Kittitas, Klickitat, and Grant Counties are already starting anti-drug education in elementary school. They say kids now are most often starting drugs in middle school. Todays pot is much more dangerous since it has more of the chemical THC.

"It's easier to overdose?" we asked Safe and Drug-Free Schools & School Counseling Coordinator, Norm Walker. "It's easier to overdose, it takes much less to get high," he explained.

We asked how parents can tell if their child is doing drugs.

"They should know their kids, they should know who their friends are, their activities, they should know what they're about and observe changes in their behavior," Walker said.

Watch for mood changes, changes in their hygiene, they may be more secretive, their grades may drop, or they might start skipping class. If you notice those changes, tell them what you've noticed and ask them in general what's wrong since those symptoms could also be signs of something else. Especially now when they can get it fast and easy, a few extra questions may be worth you time.

In the meantime, law enforcement is working to decrease the availability of marijuana. As of August, Yakima county destroyed roughly 90,000 pot plants. Kittitas county pulled 9,500, making it the biggest bust ever for that county. Benton county harvested 5,000. Franklin county had 20,000. Walla Walla had the most, with 100,000 plants.