Surprisingly, Teen Drug Use Is Declining

The National Institute on Drug Abuse released this year’s results from their ‘Monitoring The Future’ study, which has been ongoing since 1975. According to the report, illicit drug use is declining amongst US teens in almost every aspect.

The study examines the use of all illicit drugs including cigarettes, prescription opioids, alcohol and MDMA. The participants, 13 to 18 year olds, are asked to report their drug use patterns across three time periods: the past month, the past year, and in their entire life. Marijuana and cigarette use are reported based on daily use as well. After examining 44,000 kids, the 2015 ‘MTF’ study revealed that all drug use has significantly declined.

With all this in mind, it’s worth noting that the daily use of marijuana remains consistent and has even exceeded the daily use of cigarettes among 12th graders. Also, kids’ perceptions of marijuana’s harmful effects are on the decline.

According to the study, MDMA use, which includes molly or ecstasy, has been consistently declining since 2010, and is down 1.5% from last year’s results.

Check out the entire Monitoring The Future study here.