Drug, alcohol and tobacco use among US teens continues to decline

Drug and alcohol use among teens has continued to decline, continuing the downward trend seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study.

According to figures, record numbers of teenagers are abstaining from drugs, alcohol and tobacco a survey of Monitoring the Future, an ongoing project at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. The survey, conducted annually since 1975, produced the latest findings based on responses from approximately 24,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in the US.

“We really expected that once social distancing policies were lifted, things would return to pre-pandemic levels, but that’s not what happened,” said Richard Miech, a researcher at Monitoring the Future.

“We found that drug use not only remained low, but dropped even further.”

The results show that as many as 66% of 12th graders have not used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. This is the highest abstention rate since the survey began in 2017.

Of the 10th graders, 80% reported abstaining, which was another record. Of 8th graders, 90% reported no recent use, remaining at the same level as the previous survey.

The decline in drug use during the pandemic came as something of a surprise to experts. With lockdowns causing rates of depression to rise dramatically, an increase in drug and alcohol use wouldn’t have been such a big shock. But since the biggest factor in drug use among young people is peer pressure, the lockdowns had the opposite effect.

“Drug use, especially among adolescents, is typically a social event,” says Miech. “Social distancing policies during the pandemic were designed so that all teens and adolescents had little contact with anyone other than their own immediate family.”

Also surprising is that marijuana use among teens is declining – despite a notable upward trend among US adults.

Among teenagers, there was one area that did show a significant increase: the use of nicotine pouches.

The survey found that 6% of 12th graders had used nicotine pouches in the past year, double from 3% in 2023. It’s unclear whether this signals the emergence of a broader public health problem, but experts are keeping an eye on the trend .

“The pouches are more common in Europe, and there has been a lot of concern because these have crossed the pond, so to speak,” Miech says.

“They have a lot of properties that would appeal to teenagers,” he added. “They have different flavors here, like mint and menthol, which are generally attractive to children, and you can also use them very secretly.”

The continued decline in drug, alcohol and tobacco use among teens is a positive sign that these industries no longer have the power they once had over the nation’s youth. But a disturbing trend in pop culture shows that cigarettes may be secretly making a comeback.

“I also see more and more smoking in the media and I watch these various programs with my teenage daughter,” says Miech. “But fortunately, so far, this has not actually translated into higher levels of cigarette smoking among the adolescents.”