Drug Use Declines Among American Youth: Teen Use of Most Illicit Substances Down, Past-Year Marijuana Use Remains Relatively Stable

~Partnership for Drug-Free Kids Responds to 2016 Monitoring the Future Study~

NEW YORK – December 13, 2016 – The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Study (MTF), an annual survey tracking teen drug abuse among approximately 45,000 8th-, 10th- and 12th- graders, shows some positive inroads and encouraging news in substance use trends among American youth. The new survey data show a continued long-term decline in the use of many substances, including alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, Ecstasy, as well as the misuse of some prescription medications, among 8^th– 10^th-, and 12th graders. The MTF survey is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Findings from the survey indicate that past-year use of any illicit drug was the lowest in the survey’s history for 8^th graders, while past-year use of illicit drugs other than marijuana is down from recent peaks across all three grades. Use of several illicit drugs – including MDMA (known as Ecstasy or Molly), heroin, cocaine and synthetic marijuana – showed a noted decline in this year’s data. Marijuana use among our nation’s youth remained relatively stable; though teens’ perception of risk associated with marijuana use continue to soften.

Marijuana Use Remained Stable Among Teens in the U.S.

While the survey found that past-month marijuana use among 8th graders dropped significantly in 2016 to 5.4 percent, from 6.5 percent in 2015, almost a quarter of high school seniors (22.5 percent) report past-month marijuana use and 6 percent report daily use; both measures remained relatively stable from last year. Similarly, rates of marijuana use in the past year among 10th graders also remained stable compared to 2015, but are at their lowest levels in over two decades.

The new data also confirm that teens who live in states where medical marijuana is legal report a higher use of marijuana edibles. Among 12^th graders reporting marijuana use in the past year, 40.2 percent consumed marijuana in food in states with medical marijuana laws compared to 28.1 percent in states without such laws.

Attitudes toward marijuana use have softened, but perception of harm is not necessarily linked to rates of use. For example, 44 percent of 10^th graders perceive regular marijuana smoking as harmful (“great risk”), but only 2.5 percent of them used marijuana daily in 2016. This compares to a decade ago when 64.9 percent of 10^th graders perceived marijuana as harmful and 2.8 percent of them used it daily. The number of eighth graders who say marijuana is easy to get is at its lowest in the history of the survey, at 34.6 percent.

Teen Misuse and Abuse of Rx Medicines Trending Downward, But Still at High Levels

MTF also found although non-medical use of prescription opioids remains a serious issue in the adult population, teen use of prescription opioid pain relievers is trending downward among 12th graders with a 45 percent drop in past-year use compared to five years ago. The past-year rate for non-medical use of all opioid pain relievers among 12^th graders is at 4.8 percent, down significantly from its peak of 9.5 percent in 2004, while the past-year non-medical use of Vicodin among high school seniors is now lower than misuse of OxyContin (2.9 percent compared to 3.4 percent). Past-year non-medical use of Adderall, a prescription stimulant used to treat Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)is relatively stable at 6.2 percent for 12^th graders. However, non-medical use of Ritalin dropped to 1.2 percent, compared to 2 percent last year, and a peak of 5.1 percent in 2004.

Eighth graders alone reported an increase in misuse of over-the-counter cough medicine at 2.6 percent, up from 1.6 percent in 2015, but still lower than the peak of 4.2 percent when first measured in 2006.

“While we are pleased to see that marijuana use has stabilized among teens, 6 percent of high school seniors reporting that they smoke marijuana every day is still unacceptably high. The MTF survey also found that more teens report using marijuana edibles in states where marijuana has been legalized and a softening of attitudes about the dangers associated with this drug – this is a real cause for concern,” said Marcia Lee Taylor, President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. “The recent declines in the abuse of prescription opioids among teens are also encouraging. But the persistently high percentage of teens who report abusing stimulants is also worrisome. The Partnership has been working for quite some time through our Medicine Abuse Project to help educate parents, families and communities about the risks of medicine abuse and we are glad to see continued progress.”

Taylor added, “It’s important to remember that while today’s news about substance use among teens is mostly positive, we cannot let that take our focus off of the prescription drug and heroin crisis among other age groups across the U.S. As a country, we need to focus more of our attention and resources on early intervention and addressing substance use disorders, rather than cleaning up a problem once it has reached epidemic levels.”

The 2016 MTF survey of approximately 40,000 students in 8^th, 10^th and 12^th grades also found:

• Inhalant use, usually the only category of drugs used more by younger teens than their older counterparts, was down significantly among eighth graders compared to last year, with past year use at 3.8 percent, compared to 4.6 percent in 2015. Past-year inhalant use peaked among eighth graders in 1995 at 12.8 percent.
• Use of MDMA (known as Ecstasy and Molly) has been falling since 2010 and is at its lowest point for all three grades in the history of the MTF survey. Past-year use is down among 8th graders to just 1 percent, from last year’s 1.4 percent.
• Cigarette smoking continued a decades­ long decline. A large drop in the use of tobacco cigarettes was seen in all three grades, with a long-term decline from their peak use more than 20 years ago. For example, in 1991, when MTF first measured cigarette smoking, 10.7 percent of high school seniors smoked a half pack or more a day. Twenty-five years later, that rate has dropped to only 1.8 percent. MTF indicates that marijuana and electronic vaporizers (e-cigarettes) are more popular than regular tobacco cigarettes. The past-month rates among 12th graders are 12.5 percent for vaporizers and 10.5 percent for cigarettes.
• Alcohol use by the nation’s teens also continued its long-term decline in 2016, with the rate of teens reporting they have “been drunk” in the past year at the survey’s lowest rates ever. For example, 37.3 percent of 12th graders reported they have been drunk at least once, down from a peak of 53.2 percent in 2001.
• The proportion of secondary school students using heroin has fallen gradually over the past few years, and it continued a gradual decrease in all three grades in 2015. Heroin rates remain low with teens still in school and in the history of the MTF survey, heroin (with a needle) rates have never been higher than 0.7 percent among 12^th graders, as seen in 2010.

Partnership Resources Help Address Teen Substance Use

The Medicine Abuse Project:

With the ultimate goal of preventing half a million teens from misusing or abusing medicine, the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids continues the momentum of the Medicine Abuse Project, a national mobilization program to help educate parents, teens and the public about the dangers of medicine abuse. Launched in 2012, the Project aims to drive awareness and action, encouraging parents to safeguard the medications in their home, track quantities and talk with their families about the dangers of medicine abuse. Visit the Medicine Abuse Project and learn what role you can play in ending the teen medicine abuse epidemic.

Breaking Points Short Film:

BREAKING POINTS is a short documentary film produced by the Partnership that raises awareness about the level of stress that high school and college students experience and the unhealthy ways that many of them cope. The film explores behavior that is becoming normalized among students – abusing prescription (Rx) medicines not prescribed to them, including Rx stimulants for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Marijuana Talk Kit for Parents:

“The Marijuana Talk Kit: What You Need to Know to Talk With Your Kids About Marijuana” is a comprehensive guide that addresses the new challenges families face with their teens around the topic of marijuana, and equips parents with the tools they need to have productive conversations with their kids about the drug. The resource addresses the changing marijuana landscape and helps facilitate the communication between parents and teens on this complex issue.

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About the Monitoring the Future Survey

Overall, 45,473 students from 372 public and private schools participated in this year’s MTF survey. Since 1975, the survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes in 12th graders nationwide. Eighth and 10th graders were added to the survey in 1991. Lloyd D. Johnston, Ph.D., who has been the principal investigator at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research for all 42 years, is retiring from that position this year, but the survey of teens will continue under the leadership of Richard A. Miech, Ph.D., who is currently a member of the MTF scientific team.