High School Surveyed on Alcohol, Illicit Drug and Marijuana

(Spring 2015) According to 2014 Monitoring the Future Survey, conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), high school seniors’ use of alcohol and painkillers is declining and marijuana is not perceived to be harmful.

There was a significant drop over the past five years in the percentage of 12^th graders reporting to have used alcohol in the past month, declining roughly 6% since 2009 to 37.4% in 2014.  Binge drinking among this age group also dropped below 20% from its most recent peak rate of 31.5% in 1998.

Abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs also declined.  Since its peak in 2004 of 9.5%, the percent of high school seniors who reported abusing narcotics, including all opioid pain relievers other than heroin, was 6.1%.  Non-medical use of Vicodin® dropped to 4.8%, half of what it was in 2009.  However, while painkiller abuse decreased, the non-medical use of Adderall® remained steady at 6.8% compared to 2013 data.  This is possibly due to students using the drug to stay awake to study for tests can complete homework.

Unfortunately, as alcohol and illicit drug use rates decline, marijuana use and perception are treading in the opposite direction.  Past month use of marijuana remained steady at 21.2% for high-school seniors, with almost 6% reporting daily marijuana use.  In states with medical marijuana laws, the 2014 survey found that 40% of seniors who had used marijuana in the past year consumed marijuana in food products (compared to 26% in non-medical marijuana states). Also, only 16.4% of 12^th graders think occasional marijuana use is a great risk to the user.

See more Alcohol and Drug Trends articles.