High School and Youth Trends (Survey Data)
Article Provided by National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Since 1975, the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has been administered annually to study the extent of and beliefs about drug use among 12th-graders. The survey was expanded in 1991 to include 8th- and 10th-graders. It is funded by NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The goal of the survey is to collect data on past month, past year, and lifetime (1) drug use among students in these grade levels. The 33rd annual study was conducted during 2007. (2)
Decreases or stability in abuse patterns were noted for most drugs from 2006 to 2007. Below are the key findings, based on data from the 2007 MTF survey. For individual drugs, a decrease or increase is noted only if statistically significant; other trends are considered stable and are not highlighted below.
Positive Trends
- Any illicit drug - From 2006 to 2007, 8th-graders reporting lifetime use of any illicit drug declined from 20.9 percent to 19.0 percent and past year use declined from 14.8 percent to 13.2 percent. Since 2001, annual prevalence has fallen by 32 percent among 8th-graders, nearly 25 percent among 10th-graders, and 13 percent among 12th-graders. Since the peak year in 1996, past year prevalence has fallen by 44 percent among 8th-graders. The peak year for past year abuse among 10th- and 12th-graders was 1997; since then, past year prevalence has fallen by 27 percent among 10th-graders and by 15 percent among 12th-graders.
- Marijuana - Past year use of marijuana among 8th graders significantly declined from 11.7 percent in 2006 to 10.3 percent in 2007, and is down from its 1996 peak of 18.3 percent. Annual prevalence of marijuana use has fallen by 33 percent among 8th-graders, 25 percent among 10th-graders, and 14 percent among 12th-graders since 2001. Disapproval of trying marijuana "once or twice," smoking marijuana "occasionally," or smoking marijuana "regularly" (3) increased significantly among 8th-graders from 2006 to 2007, and remained stable for 10th- and 12th-graders for the same period.
- Methamphetamine - Lifetime and past year methamphetamine use decreased among 8th- and 12th-graders between 2006 and 2007; lifetime use among 8th-graders declined from 2.7 percent to 1.8 percent, and lifetime use among 12th-graders declined from 4.4 percent to 3.0 percent. Past year methamphetamine use was reported by 1.1 percent of 8th-graders in 2007 (a decline from 1.8 percent in 2006), 1.6 percent of 10th-graders, and 1.7 percent of 12th-graders (a decline from 2.5 percent in 2006).
- Sedatives/Barbiturates - There has been a decline in the lifetime use of sedatives from a peak of 10.5 percent in 2005 to 9.3 percent in 2007. Past year use of sedatives/barbituates declined from a peak of 7.2 percent in 2005 to 6.2 percent in 2007. (This question is asked only of 12th-graders.)