Teens’ Use of Substances Other Than Marijuana Has Declined

US Pharm. 2017;42(1):12.

Ann Arbor, MI—According to a national study conducted by the University of Michigan, teens’ use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco decreased significantly in 2016, at rates that are at their lowest since the 1990s. Marijuana use, which dropped sharply in 8th-graders and declined somewhat in 10th-graders, remained elevated in 12th-graders, however. The Monitoring the Future study, which has been ongoing for 42 years, surveys about 45,000 public-school and private-school students (in grades 8, 10, and 12) each year. This year’s improvements were especially concentrated in 8th-graders and 10th-graders. The overall percentage of teens using any illicit drugs other than marijuana has declined gradually since the last half of the 1990s.