Drug and alcohol use among teenagers has continued to decline, according to a new study, continuing a downward trend observed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Record numbers of teens are abstaining from drugs, alcohol and tobacco, according to a survey from Monitoring the Future, an ongoing project at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. The survey, conducted annually since 1975, released its latest findings based on responses from about 24,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 across the US.
“We really expected that once the social distancing policies were lifted, that things would kind of return to their pre-pandemic levels, but that’s not what happened,” said Richard Miech, a researcher for Monitoring the Future.
“We found that drug use not only stayed low, but it’s dropped even further.”
The results show that a whopping 66% of 12th graders reported no use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. This is the highest abstinence rate recorded since the survey began tracking it in 2017.
Among 10th graders, 80% reported abstaining, marking another record. For 8th graders, 90% reported no recent use, maintaining the same level as in the previous survey.
The decrease in drug usage during the pandemic was somewhat of a surprise to experts. With the lockdowns causing depression rates to rise dramatically, an increase in drugs and drinking wouldn’t have been too much of a shock. But as the biggest factor in drug use for young people is peer pressure, the lockdowns had the opposite effect.
“Drug use, particularly among adolescents, is typically a social event,” said Miech. “The social distancing policies during the pandemic were designed so that all teenagers and adolescents hardly interacted with anybody except their own immediate family.”
Also surprising is that marijuana usage among teens is declining – despite a notable upward trend for adults across the US.
For teens, one area that did show a significant increase was the use of nicotine pouches.
The survey found that 6% of 12th graders had used nicotine pouches in the past year, doubling from 3% in 2023. It’s unclear if this spells the emergence of a broader public health concern, but experts are monitoring the trend.
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“The pouches have higher prevalence in Europe, and there’s been a lot of concern as these have crossed the pond, so to speak,” said Miech.
“They have a lot of properties that would appeal to teenagers,” he added. “They come with different flavors out here like mint and menthol, which generally appeal to kids, and you can also use them very surreptitiously.”
The continuing decline of teen drug, alcohol and tobacco usage is a positive sign that these industries no longer have the power they once did over the country’s youth. But a disturbing trend in pop culture shows that cigarettes could be sneakily making a comeback.
“I too see more and more smoking in the media and on these different shows I watch with my teenage daughter,” said Miech. “But fortunately, so far, it hasn’t actually translated into higher levels of cigarette smoking among adolescence.”
English (US)