Decline Seen in Teen Drug Use

Parents can breathe a little easier when it comes to illicit drug use by their teens, according to the results of a long-term study called Monitoring The Future by University of Michigan researchers. President George W. Bush lauded the efforts of law enforcement and Latin American leaders in the administration's five year plan to reduce illicit drug use at a press conference held December 11. "...today we celebrate progress against substance abuse. We also know that this work is not finished. There's still a lot more work to be done."

The Monitoring the Future program has been conducting national surveys of junior high and high school students on an annual basis since 1975. The study compared surveys from 1996 to those in 2007, and showed significant declines in the reported use of certain illegal drugs 8^th graders, while only modest declines in their use by 10^th and 12^th graders, while uses of cocaine, crack cocaine, and non-LSD hallucinogens remained relatively steady at just under 2%.

The drugs most responsible for this year's modest decline in illicit drug use are marijuana and various stimulant drugs, including amphetamines, Ritalin (a specific amphetamine), methamphetamine, and crystal methamphetamine.

Certain drugs, however, have seen an increase in abuse, most commonly prescription sedatives and other psychotherapeutic drugs being improperly used. A press summary of the report says "As a result, they have become a relatively more important part of the nation's drug abuse problem." Additionally, MDMA (street name Ecstasy) has seen nearly a 50% increase in incidence of use by high school seniors, from 3% to 4.5% during the study period.

"These prevalence rates are not very high yet but there is evidence here of this drug beginning to make a comeback," Johnston said. "Young people are coming to see its use as less dangerous than did their predecessors as recently as 2004, and that is a warning signal that the increase in use may continue."

Johnston co-authored the paper with Patrick O'Malley. Both work at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, which is the largest of the four Centers of the Institute for Social Research. The Institute also conducts research in areas such as consumer behavior and attitudes, income dynamics, and areas affecting retirement such as income and health. Johnston and O'Malley recently published their comparable work on the abuse of alcohol by teens in November.

"The cumulative declines since recent peak levels of drug involvement in the mid-1990s are quite substantial especially among the youngest students," said Johnston.