Teenagers’ Smoking, Drug Abuse And Drinking At Lowest Levels Seen In Decades
A notable exception to this trend is marijuana use: the proportion of teens who said they had tried it has remained steady over the last decade.
Los Angeles Times:
Smoking, Drinking And Drug Abuse Decline Among U.S. Teens, Who Prefer Pot And Vaping, Study Finds
About 1 in 3 middle and high school students surveyed in 2017 said they had used some kind of illicit drug sometime in their life. Two decades ago, that figure was 43%. Likewise, 17% of students surveyed in 2017 said they smoked cigarettes at least once, and 26% said they had been drunk. In the 1990s, those figures reached highs of 58% and 46%, respectively. “The rates of drug use among teenagers in our country are the lowest they’ve ever been for some drugs,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (Kaplan, 12/13)