Alcohol Use Among Teens Continues Decline, But Slower, As Marijuana Use Posts 1st Significant Increase in 7 Years

Alcohol use among teenagers in in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades continued its two-decade long decline this year, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports this morning. But the declines have slowed.

But marijuana use among teens edged upward in 2017, the first significant increase in seven years. Overall, past-year use of marijuana significantly increased by 1.3% to 24% in 2017 for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders combined.

Specifically, in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades the respective marijuana use increases were 0.8% (to 10.1%), 1.6% (to 25.5%) and 1.5% (to 37.1%). The increase is statistically significant when all three grades are combined.

When it comes to binge drinking, 16.6% of 12th graders reported binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion) in the previous two weeks, which was not significantly different from 2016. Previously, binge drinking had been steadily declining.

However, rates of binge drinking among teenagers are still down significantly from the survey’s peak years, according to the Monitoring the Future study released this morning.

Binge drinking among 12th graders peaked in 1998 at 31.5%.  This year it’s 16.6%.  Among 10th graders, it peaked at 24.1% in 2000.  This year, it’s 9.8%.  And among eighth graders, 1996 was the peak at at 13.3%.  This year only 3.7% binged.

“While binge drinking among eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students remains well below the levels seen a decade ago, the downward trend in binge drinking appears to have slowed somewhat in recent years,” said George F. Koob, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “This may signal a need for more emphasis on alcohol prevention strategies in this age group.”

The increase in marijuana drove trends in any illicit drug use in the past year. In both 12th and 10th grade this measure increased (although the increase was not statistically significant), while use of any illicit drug use other than marijuana declined (although the decrease was not statistically significant). In 8th grade neither of these drug use measures significantly changed, although they both increased slightly.

Other highlights from the 2017 survey:

Illegal and Illicit Drugs:

  • Reported heroin and methamphetamine use remains very low among the nation’s teens at less than 0.5% in past year measures.
  • Cocaine use remains low in teen students. For example, 12th graders report past year use at 2.7 %, after a peak of 6.2% in 1999.
  • Past year use of anabolic steroids, which peaked at 2.5 % among the nation’s 12th graders in 2004, is now at 1.1%.
  • Past year use of LSD among 12th graders is at 3.3%, reflecting a modest but significant increase in the past five years. Use still remains lower compared to its peak in 1996 of 8.8%.
  • Past year use of K2/Spice, referred to as “synthetic marijuana” in the survey, was reported at 3.7% among 12th graders, down from 11.3 % five years ago. There was a significant drop in past year use among eighth graders, from 2.7% in 2016 to 2% this year.

Other Prescription Drugs:

  • Reflecting an historic low, high school seniors reported past year misuse of the prescription opioid Oxycontin at 2.7%, compared to 5.5% at its peak in 2005.
  • Misuse of prescription stimulants, commonly prescribed for ADHD symptoms, is mostly stable compared to last year, with 5.5% of 12th graders reporting past year misuse of Adderall. In fact, this represents a significant drop for this age group from five years ago when misuse peaked at 7.6%.
  • Past year misuse of the therapeutic stimulant Ritalin among 12th graders is at 1.3%, nearly a record low since 2001 when it was first measured at 5.1 %. There was a significant decline this year among eighth graders’ past year misuse, reported at 0.4% in 2017, down from 0.8% last year, and significantly down from 2.9% in 2001.

Other Tobacco Products:

  • Hookah smoking has dropped for the second year in a row with 10.1% of seniors reporting past year use compared to 13% last year, down from 22.9% in 2014. The survey began measuring hookah smoking in 2010.
  • As for little cigars, 13.3% of high school seniors say they smoked little cigars in the past year, from a peak of 23.1% in 2010, when it was first included in the survey.

Attitudes and Availability:

The survey also measures attitudes about drug use, including perceived availability and harmfulness, as well as disapproval of specific drugs. Generally, attitudes grow more favorable towards drug use as teens get older.

  • In 2017, 79.8 % of eighth graders said they disapprove of regularly vaping nicotine, but that number drops to 71.8 % among 12th graders.
  • Only 14.1 % of 12th graders see “great risk” in smoking marijuana occasionally, down from 17.1 % last year and a staggering drop from 40.6 % in 1991, but similar to rates when the survey was started in 1975 (18.1 %).
  • There was a significant change in how eighth graders view K2/Spice (which the survey calls “synthetic marijuana”). In 2017, 23 % said trying it once or twice would put users at great risk, compared to 27.5 % in 2016.
  • The survey indicated that 23.3 % of 10th graders say it is easy to get tranquilizers, up from 20.5 % last year.

Monitoring the Future has been conducted by researchers at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor since 1975, expanding the study periodically to include additional grades and topic areas. It is the only large-scale federal government survey that releases findings the same year the data is collected.

Overall, 43,703 students from 360 public and private schools participated in this year’s MTF survey.

Since 1975, the survey has measured how teens report their drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes in 12th graders nationwide. Eighth and 10th graders were added to the survey in 1991. Survey participants generally report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month.

Questions are also asked about daily cigarette and marijuana use. NIDA has provided funding for the survey since its inception to a team of investigators at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, currently led by Dr. Richard Miech.

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