Adolescent Illicit Substance Use Rates Remain Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
After decreasing dramatically between 2020 and 2021, adolescent illicit substance use rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to Monitoring the Future survey data released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on Wednesday.
According to the latest results of the survey, 10.9% of 8th graders, 19.8% of 10th graders, and 31.2% of 12th graders reported past-year use of any illicit substance.
“Research has shown that delaying the start of substance use among young people, even by 1 year, can decrease substance use for the rest of their lives,” NIDA Director Nora Volkow, MD, said in a news release. “We may be seeing this play out in real time. This trend is reassuring.
“Though, it remains crucial to continue to educate young people about the risks and harms of substance use in an open and honest way, emphasizing that illicit pills and other substances may contain deadly fentanyl.”
On that point, while drug use among young people is not becoming more common, it is becoming more dangerous. Despite adolescent use rates lower than the late 2010s, NIDA pointed to separate data that shows overdose deaths among teens increased dramatically between 2010 and 2021, a development NIDA researchers attribute to the proliferation of fentanyl in recent years.
An analysis of adolescent substance use by specific drugs produced the following findings:
- Past-year alcohol use declined year-over-year for 12th graders (from 51.9% in 2022 to 45.7% in 2023) and held steady for 8th graders (15.1%) and 10th graders (30.6%).
- Nicotine vaping declined among 10th graders (20.5% to 17.6%) and 12th graders (27.3% to 23.2%) and remained consistent for 8th graders (11.4% in 2023).
- Cannabis use remained steady at all grade levels, with 8.3% of 8th graders, 17.8% of 10th graders, and 29.0% of 12th graders reporting past-year use. Use of any illicit drug other than marijuana also remained stable with rates of 4.6%, 5.1%, and 7.4% for grades 8, 10, and 12, respectively.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and funded by NIDA, the Monitoring the Future survey is given annually to students who self-report substance use behaviors over various time periods. The survey also documents students’ perceptions of harm, disapproval of use, and perceived availability of drugs. The survey has been conducted for 49 years.
For the 2023 edition of the survey, investigators collected a nationally representative sample of 22,318 surveys from 235 public and private schools across the United States.
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