Dr. Jeff's and Dr. Tanya's Blog

The facts about drug abuse and American youth

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/barbiturates declined from a peak of 7.2 percent in 2005 to 6.2 percent in 2007. (This question is asked only of 12th-graders.)
• Inhalants – After some increases in recent years, there were no significant changes from 2006 to 2007 in the proportion of students in the 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grades reporting lifetime, past year, or past month abuse of inhalants.
• Cigarettes/Nicotine – Among 8th-graders, cigarette use declined between 2006 and 2007 in most categories; lifetime use dropped from 24.6 percent to 22.1 percent, and past month use fell from 8.7 percent to 7.1 percent. Daily cigarette smoking among 8th-graders dropped from 4.0 percent to 3.0 percent, down from its 10.4 percent peak in 1996. Lifetime cigarette use was reported by 34.6 percent of 10th graders, and 46.2 percent of 12th graders, and smoking half a pack or more a day was reported by 1.1 percent of 8th-graders, 2.7 percent of 10th-graders, and 5.7 percent of 12th-graders in 2007.
• Crack/Cocaine – Past month abuse of crack among 10th-graders declined from 0.7 percent in 2006 to 0.5 percent in 2007. From 2001 to 2007, students in 8th and 10th grades showed declines of crack use of 29.6 percent and 58.0 percent, respectively. Past month abuse of cocaine (powder) among 12th-graders declined from 2.4 percent in 2006 to 1.7 percent in 2007. Disapproval of trying cocaine “once or twice” increased among 8th-graders from 86.5 percent in 2006 to 88.2 percent in 2007, and disapproval of trying crack “once or twice” increased from 87.2 percent to 88.6 percent. Disapproval did not change among 10th- or 12th-graders for the same period.
• Anabolic Steroids – Perceived availability of steroids dropped among 10th-graders, from 30.2 percent in 2006 to 27.7 percent in 2007, but remained stable among 8th- and 12th-graders. Steroid use in all three grade levels remained unchanged from 2006 to 2007.
• Alcohol – Tenth-graders reported a modest decline in past year use of flavored alcoholic beverages, from 48.8 percent in 2006 to 45.9 percent in 2007.  Eighth-graders reporting disapproval of trying “one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage” increased from 51.3 percent in 2006 to 54.0 percent in 2007. Disapproval of having “five or more drinks once or twice each weekend” increased from 82.0 percent in 2006 to 83.8 percent in 2007.⁽⁴⁾

Negative Trends

• Prescription Drugs – Prescription drug use remains unacceptably high with virtually no drop in nonmedical use of most individual prescription drugs. This year, for the first time, researchers pulled together data for all prescription drugs as a measurable group (including amphetamines, sedatives/barbiturates, tranquilizers, and opiates other than heroin such as Vicodin and OxyContin) and found that 15.4 percent of high school seniors reported nonmedical use of at least one prescription medication within the past year.⁽⁵⁾
• MDMA (Ecstasy) – The 2007 results represent the third year in a row showing a weakening of attitudes among the youngest students regarding MDMA. Among 8th-graders, the perceived harmfulness of taking MDMA “occasionally” decreased from 52.0 percent to 48.6 percent from 2006 to 2007. Among 10th-graders, the perceived harmfulness decreased from 71.3 percent to 68.2 percent. Perceived risk of MDMA use remained unchanged for 12th-graders from 2006 to 2007. Concurrently, between 2004 and 2007 past year use of MDMA increased in 10th-graders from 2.4 to 3.5 percent, and between 2005 and 2007 past year use of MDMA increased among 12th-graders, going from 3.0 to 4.5 percent.
• Hallucinogens – Among 10th-graders, the perceived harmfulness of taking LSD “once or twice” decreased from 38.8 percent in 2006 to 35.4 percent in 2007. The perceived harm of taking LSD “regularly” decreased from 60.7 percent in 2006 to 56.8 percent in 2007. Disapproval of using LSD “once or twice” significantly decreased for 10th-graders from 71.2 percent in 2006 to 67.7 percent in 2007; disapproval of taking LSD “regularly” dropped from 74.9 percent in 2006 to 71.5 percent in 2007.
• Heroin/Opiates – Among 8th-graders, past month use of injecting heroin increased from 0.2 percent in 2006 to 0.3 percent in 2007.  Past year heroin use without a needle increased among 12th-graders from 0.6 percent in 2006 to 1.0 percent in 2007.  OxyContin use in the past year was reported by 1.8 percent of 8th-graders, 3.9 percent of 10th-graders, and 5.2 percent of 12th- graders. Vicodin use in the past year was reported by 2.7 percent of 8th-graders, 7.2 percent of 10th-graders, and 9.6 percent of 12th-graders, remaining stable at relatively high levels for each grade.

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(1) “Lifetime” refers to use at least once during a respondent’s lifetime. “Past year” refers to use at least once during the year preceding an individual’s response to the survey. “Past month” refers to use at least once during the 30 days preceding an individual’s response to the survey. “Daily” refers to an individual’s drug use 20 or more times in the 30 days prior to the survey, except for cigarettes, where the definition is one or more cigarettes per day in the 30 days prior to the survey.

(2) For the 2007 MTF, 48,025 students in a nationally representative sample of 403 public and private schools were surveyed about lifetime, past year, past month, and daily use of drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The latest data are online at www.drugabuse.gov

(3) In addition to studying drug use among 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders, MTF collects information on three attitudinal indicators related to their drug use. These indicators are perceived risk of harm in taking a drug, disapproval of others who take drugs, and perceived availability of drugs.

(4) For information on the health effects of alcohol, visit the Web site of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at www.niaaa.nih.gov.

(5) For more information on the misuse or nonmedical use of pain medications or other prescription drugs, please visit www.drugabuse.gov and click on Prescription Medications under Drugs of Abuse.

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Monitoring the Future Study: Trends in Prevalence of Various Drugs for 8th-Graders, 10th-Graders, and 12th-Graders

2004-2007

	8th-Graders				10th-Graders				12th-Graders
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2004	2005	2006	2007	2004	2005	2006	2007
Any Illicit Drug Use
lifetime past year past month	21.5 15.2   8.4	21.4 15.5   8.5	20.9 14.8   8.1	[19.0] [13.2]   7.4	39.8 31.1 18.3	38.2 29.8 17.3	36.1 28.7 16.8	35.6 28.1 16.9	51.1 38.8 23.4	50.4 38.4 23.1	48.2 36.5 21.5	46.8 35.9 21.9
Marijuana/Hashish
lifetime past year past month daily	16.3 11.8   6.4   0.8	16.5 12.2   6.6   1.0	15.7 11.7   6.5   1.0	14.2 [10.3]   5.7   0.8	35.1 27.5 15.9   3.2	34.1 26.6 15.2   3.1	31.8 25.2 14.2   2.8	31.0 24.6 14.2   2.8	45.7 34.3 19.9   5.6	44.8 33.6 19.8   5.0	42.3 31.5 18.3   5.0	41.8 31.7 18.8   5.1
Inhalants
lifetime past year past month	17.3   9.6   4.5	17.1   9.5   4.2	16.1   9.1   4.1	15.6   8.3   3.9	12.4   5.9   2.4	13.1   6.0   2.2	13.3   6.5   2.3	13.6   6.6   2.5	10.9   4.2   1.5	11.4   5.0   2.0	11.1   4.5   1.5	10.5   3.7   1.2
Hallucinogens
lifetime past year past month	3.5   2.2   1.0	3.8   2.4   1.1	3.4   2.1   0.9	3.1   1.9   1.0	6.4   4.1   1.6	5.8   4.0   1.5	6.1   4.1   1.5	6.4   4.4   1.7	9.7 6.2 1.9	8.8   5.5   1.9	8.3   4.9   1.5	8.4   5.4   1.7
LSD
lifetime past year past month	1.8   1.1   0.5	1.9   1.2   0.5	1.6   0.9   0.4	1.6   1.1   0.5	2.8   1.6   0.6	2.5   1.5   0.6	2.7   1.7   0.7	3.0   1.9   0.7	4.6 2.2 0.7	3.5   1.8   0.7	3.3   1.7   0.6	3.4 2.1 0.6
Cocaine
lifetime past year past month	3.4   2.0   0.9	3.7   2.2   1.0	3.4   2.0   1.0	3.1   2.0   0.9	5.4   3.7   1.7	5.2   3.5   1.5	4.8   3.2   1.5	5.3   3.4   1.3	8.1 5.3 2.3	8.0   5.1   2.3	8.5   5.7   2.5	7.8 5.2 [2.0]
Crack Cocaine
lifetime past year past month	2.4   1.3   0.6	2.4   1.4   0.6	2.3   1.3   0.6	2.1   1.3   0.6	2.6   1.7   0.8	2.5   1.7   0.7	2.2   1.3   0.7	2.3   1.3 [0.5]	3.9 2.3 1.0	3.5   1.9   1.0	3.5   2.1   0.9	3.2 1.9 0.9
Heroin
lifetime past year past month	1.6   1.0   0.5	1.5   0.8   0.5	1.4 0.8 0.3	1.3   0.8   0.4	1.5   0.9   0.5	1.5   0.9   0.5	1.4   0.9   0.5	1.5   0.8   0.4	1.5 0.9 0.5	1.5   0.8   0.5	1.4   0.8   0.4	1.5 0.9 0.4
Tranquilizers
lifetime past year past month	4.0   2.5   1.2	4.1   2.8   1.3	4.3   2.6   1.3	3.9   2.4   1.1	7.3   5.1   2.3	7.1   4.8   2.3	7.2   5.2   2.4	7.4   5.3   2.6	10.6   7.3 3.1	9.9   6.8   2.9	10.3   6.6   2.7	9.5 6.2 2.6
Alcohol
lifetime past year past month daily	43.9 36.7 18.6   0.6	41.0 33.9 17.1    0.5	40.5 33.6 17.2   0.5	38.9 31.8 15.9   0.6	64.2 58.2 35.2   1.3	63.2 56.7 33.2    1.3	61.5 55.8 33.8   1.4	61.7 56.3 33.4    1.4	76.8 70.6 48.0   2.8	75.1 68.6 47.0    3.1	72.7 66.5 45.3    3.0	72.2 66.4 44.4   3.1
Cigarettes (any use)
lifetime past month daily 1/2 pack+/day	27.9   9.2   4.4   1.7	25.9    9.3    4.0    1.7	24.6   8.7   4.0   1.5	[22.1]   [7.1]   [3.0]    1.1	40.7 16.0   8.3   3.3	38.9 14.9   7.5   3.1	36.1 14.5   7.6   3.3	34.6 14.0   7.2   2.7	52.8 25.0 15.6   8.0	50.0 23.2 13.6    6.9	47.1 21.6 12.2    5.9	46.2 21.6 12.3   5.7
Smokeless Tobacco
lifetime past month daily	11.0   4.1   1.0	10.1   3.3   0.7	10.2   3.7   0.7	9.1   3.2   0.8	13.8   4.9   1.6	14.5   5.6   1.9	15.0   5.7   1.7	15.1   6.1   1.6	16.7   6.7   2.8	17.5   7.6   2.5	15.2    6.1    2.2	15.1   6.6   2.8
Steroids
lifetime past year past month	1.9   1.1   0.5	1.7   1.1   0.5	1.6   0.9   0.5	1.5   0.8   0.4	2.4   1.5   0.8	2.0   1.3   0.6	1.8 1.2 0.6	1.8   1.1   0.5	3.4   2.5   1.6	2.6   1.5   0.9	2.7    1.8    1.1	2.2   1.4   1.0
MDMA
lifetime past year past month	2.8   1.7   0.8	2.8   1.7   0.6	2.5   1.4   0.7	2.3   1.5   0.6	4.3   2.4   0.8	4.0   2.6   1.0	4.5   2.8   1.2	5.2   3.5   1.2	7.5   4.0   1.2	5.4   3.0   1.0	6.5    4.1    1.3	6.5   4.5   1.6
Methamphetamine
lifetime past year past month	2.5   1.5   0.6	3.1   1.8   0.7	2.7   1.8   0.6	[1.8] [1.1]    0.6	5.3   3.0   1.3	4.1    2.9    1.1	3.2   1.8   0.7	2.8   1.6   0.4	6.2   3.4   1.4	4.5   2.5 0.9	4.4    2.5    0.9	[3.0] [1.7]    0.6
Vicodin
past year	2.5	2.6	3.0	2.7	6.2	5.9	7.0	7.2	9.3	9.5	9.7	9.6
OxyContin
past year	1.7	1.8	2.6	1.8	3.5	3.2	3.8	3.9	5.0	5.5	4.3	5.2
Cough Medicine (non-prescription)*
past year	--	--	4.2	4.0	--	--	5.3	5.4	--	--	6.9	5.8

Additional Trend Data for years 1995-2006.

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* A question on the past year abuse of non-prescription cough medicine was added in 2006.

Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse

Dr. Jeffrey Speller
Dr. Tanya Korkosz
Psychopharmacology Associates of New England
www.psychopharmassociates.com

The facts about drug abuse in America today

A number of information sources are used to quantify America’s drug problem and to monitor drug abuse trends. Foremost among these sources are the Monitoring the Future survey (MTF) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Since 1975, the MTF survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use as well as related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide. For the 2007 survey, 48,025 students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades from 403 public and private schools participated. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the MTF survey is conducted by investigators at the University of Michigan.

The NSDUH is an annual survey on the nationwide prevalence and incidence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use among Americans aged 12 years and older conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Approximately 67,500 people are included in this survey.

In MTF and NSDUH, there are three primary prevalence periods for which data are reported: lifetime, past year, and past month (also referred to as “current”). It is generally believed that past year and past month are the better indicators of actual use. However, some analyses are done for only one specific prevalence period; therefore, data for both past year and past month are reported here.

Additional sources of information are provided at the end of this fact sheet.

Trends of Abuse

Alcohol
Overall, the prevalence of underage (ages 12–20) past-month alcohol use and binge drinking has been unchanged since 2002. In 2006, about 10.8 million persons (28.3 percent) in this age group reported drinking in the past month. However, there has been a long-term decline in past-year alcohol use among 8th-graders (persons aged 12 to 13 years), from 46.8 percent in 1994 to 31.8 percent in 2007.

In 2006, an estimated 30.5 million people (12.4 percent) aged 12 or older reported driving under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. Although this reflects a downward trend from 14.2 percent in 2002, it remains cause for concern.

Tobacco
According to NIDA’s MTF survey, smoking rates are at their lowest point in the history of the survey. In the past year, smoking prevalence among 8th-graders—13- to 14-year olds, the youngest age group surveyed—dropped in all prevalence categories: lifetime, past-month, and daily use. Daily smoking rates dropped to 3 percent in 2007, down from a peak of 10.4 percent in 1996. The NSDUH survey found that between 2002 and 2006, the rate of past-month cigarette use by 12- to17-year olds declined from 13 percent to 10.4 percent. Another encouraging trend is the decrease in cigarette use by young adults aged 18 to 25 years: Use decreased from 40.8 percent in 2002 to 38.4 percent in 2006.

Illicit Drugs
Illicit drug use by the Nation’s adolescents is declining for almost all specific types of drugs. When data for 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders are combined, they show that overall, past-month illicit drug use declined by 24 percent between 2001 and 2007, dropping from 19.4 percent to 14.8 percent. The downward trend in illicit drug use has been driven largely by declines in marijuana smoking.

• Past-year marijuana use among 10th-graders dropped from a peak of 34.8 percent in 1997 to 24.6 percent in 2007.
• Among 12th-graders, use declined from a peak of 38.5 percent in 1997 to 31.7 percent in 2007.
• Annual prevalence of marijuana use by 8th-graders is down to 10.3 percent in 2007, from a 1996 peak of 18.3 percent.
• In the 5 years between 2002 and 2006, the level of current marijuana use among persons aged 12 to 17 years declined from 8.2 percent in 2002 to 6.7 percent in 2006.
• The trend was also seen among older groups. From 2002 to 2006, the rate of current use of marijuana among 18- to 25-year olds dropped from 17.3 to 16.3 percent.

Current cocaine use has remained stable between 2002 and 2006 (there were 2.4 million users in 2006 aged 12 or older); however, a positive trend is the decline in use of crack cocaine, particularly among younger age groups. From 2001 to 2007, the percentage of 10th-graders reporting past-month use of crack declined from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent.

Despite these downward trends, the MTF survey data highlight some problem areas. For example, there has been a drop in perceived harmfulness of hallucinogens. For the third year in a row, there was a drop in perceived harmfulness of MDMA (ecstasy) among 8th-graders. Tenth-graders reported a decrease in perceived harmfulness of LSD and MDMA, and a decrease in disapproval of LSD. This change in attitude is reflected in an increase in past-year use of MDMA by both 10th- and 12th-graders over the past 2 years.

Prescription Drugs
Also of concern is the increase in past-month nonmedical use of prescription drugs among young adults aged 18 to 25, from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 6.4 percent in 2006. The increase is being driven largely by the use of pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Furthermore, in 2006, the number of new initiates in the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers was roughly even with that of marijuana among persons aged 12 or older.

The complete NSDUH survey findings are available at http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUHLatest.htm.

The complete MTF survey findings are available at http://www.monitoringthefuture.org.

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The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a school-based survey that collects data from students in grades 9–12. The survey includes questions on a wide variety of health-related risk behaviors including drug abuse. The survey is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. More information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/index.htm.

Additional information about high school and youth trends is available on the NIDA Web site at http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html.

Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse

Dr. Jeffrey Speller
Dr. Tanya Korkosz
Psychopharmacology Associates of New England
www.psychopharmassociates.com