Once the reliable and mighty green friend of teens nationwide, weed is becoming a long-forgotten way to deal with parents who won't them watch TV past 11 p.m.

Once the reliable and mighty green friend of disgruntled youth, weed is now becoming a long-forgotten way for teens to deal with parents who won't them watch TV past 11 p.m.

A new study from the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work has revealed that since 2002, the proportion of adolescents reporting marijuana use has decreased significantly, even as weed has become increasingly legal and socially acceptable to smoke.

But! Not only are teens smoking less weed than ever these days, they've also adopted a piss-poor attitude towards the stuff and are reporting "strong disapproval" of marijuana use. And frankly, we don't like it. Today's teens are less like teens and more like the reincarnated spirit of our great aunt Mildred who embroidered throw pillows and ate canned tuna fish like she actually enjoyed it.

Researchers found a whopping 25 percent decline — from 6 percent in 2002 to 4.5 percent in 2013 — in the relative proportion of 12-25 year olds reporting marijuana use in the previous 12 months. There was also an increase from 74 percent to 79 percent reporting that sassy-ass strong disapproval of of weed we mentioned above.

Side note: where were these researchers collecting samples? Amish country? We've personally never been anywhere where 3/4ths of teens "strongly disapproved" of weed … but then again, we did grow up in Colorado.

“Our results may suggest that recent changes in public policy, including the decriminalization, medicalization and legalization of marijuana in cities and states across the country, have not resulted in more use or greater approval of marijuana use among younger adolescents,” study author Christopher Salas-Wright said.

That's good news at least. Better news than the fact that today's teens suck and we're not even gonna babysit for them anymore.

A somewhat different pattern was observed among young adults (ages 18-25) though. The older age group in the study actually reported more approval of weed use since 2002, with 41 percent reporting strong disapproval in that year and 23 percent in 2013. However, no corresponding spike in marijuana use was observed within this age group. Approval of weed, it seems, doesn't translate to actually smoking it.

Did you hear that lawmakers? Being down with weed doesn't mean more people smoke it. Plus, all the kids are trading it up for molly and their mom's mysterious medicine cabinet these days anyway.

“Recent policy changes and increasing exposure to marijuana as perhaps normative or no longer immoral may be influencing how young adults feel about others using marijuana, but not necessarily impacting their own use,” study co-author Micheal Vaughn said. Clearly, where there's smoke, there isn't always weed.

Everyone knows that teens are the harbingers of total coolness, so does this mean that their decreasing approval of weed means it's becoming uncool like poppers or meth or going to bed on time?

In short, fuck yes. As weed becomes more and more legal, it'll lose its street cred and sex appeal. Soon, after it becomes a nationally-accepted form of medical treatment for Illness A and Condition B, abusing it and using it to escape life's drab realities will be like snorting lines of Tylenol; pointless and heavily un-chill. Whereas the teens of days yore viewed weed as their partner in adventure and mental expansion, today's pip-squeaks look at it like the fourth string quarterback on a football team; yeah, it'll do if it's the only thing available, but it's no one's first choice for adolescent rebellion.

But, for the rest of us whose balls have dropped and who are menstruating regularly, thank you very much, we'll be happy to smoke all the leftover weed those bratty, puritanical teens left behind.