Trends in Teen Marijuana Use and Prescription Drug Abuse
Each year, the Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey offers insights into trends in teen drug abuse and teen mental health. The 2008 survey revealed that teen marijuana use remains consistent with past years and that teen prescription drug abuse continues to grow.
Other key findings from the survey are as follows:
- Marijuana use among eighth, tenth and twelfth graders, which has shown a consistent decline since the mid-1990s, appears to have leveled off with 10.9 percent of eighth graders, 23.9 percent of tenth graders, and 32.4 percent of twelfth graders reporting past year use.
- Fewer eighth graders perceive smoking marijuana as harmful and disapprove of its use.
"The 2008 survey results reinforce the fact that we cannot become complacent in our efforts to persuade teens not to smoke, drink or abuse illicit substances," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. "As long as young people are being exposed to images that make taking drugs seem glamorous, we need to counter them with truthful messages about the risks and consequences of drug abuse."
- Rates of prescription drug abuse among teens remain high, with little change over the past six years.
- Nearly 10 percent of high school seniors reported past year non-medical use of Vicodin, and 4.7 percent reported abusing Oxycontin, two addictive prescription painkillers.
- Seven of the top 10 drugs abused by teens (twelfth graders) in the year prior to the survey were prescription or over-the-counter drugs.
While the news for 2008 could've been better, there were a few pieces of good news: - Cigarette smoking is at the lowest rate in the history of the MTF survey. However, there are still one in 10 high school seniors who smoke daily.
The MTF Survey also measures teen attitudes about drugs. Of particular concern is the number of teens (namely twelfth graders) who don't perceive use of LSD as harmful, and the number of eighth graders who don't perceive inhalants as harmful.
The 2008 MTF survey included responses from over 46,000 students from 386 public and private schools in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. MTF is one of three major surveys that provide data on substance use among youth, along with the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
