Rise in Use of Drugs Among Teens in USA

A growing percentage of students in the 8th to 12th grades are using drugs on a regular basis, according to the 2010 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. The MTF survey is funded by NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The 36th annual study was conducted during 2010.

According to the statistics given by this survey in 2010, there is an increase in the number of students who are abusing illicit drugs and the survey raises concerns about increases in drug use among the teens in the USA. Following information is about the rate of use of these drugs by the students on USA:

  • When compared to 2009, daily use of marijuana increased in 2010 among the 8th to 12th graders. Use of the marijuana is higher than the smoking cigarette, in 2010, 21.4 percent of high school seniors used marijuana, while 19.2 percent smoked cigarettes.
  • There is a steady decline in cigarette smoking in all the three grades after several years of improvement on most measures.
  • After marijuana, prescription drugs and the over the counter medications are the most abused drugs by the 12th graders in 2010. Non medical use of OxyContin has not changed among the three grades and has increased in 10th graders over the past 5 years.
  • Use of the ecstasy by the 8th and 10th graders increased in 2010, from 2009 to 2010, lifetime use of ecstasy among 8th graders increased from 2.2% to 3.3%, past year use from 1.3% to 2.4%, and current use 0.6% to 1.1%.
  • Alcohol use has seen a decrease among high school seniors with past month use falling from 43.5% to 41.2% and alcohol binge drinking declining from 25.2% to 23.2%.

This rise in use of drugs among teens is now a major concern for the U.S government. Every possible measures are being adapted to control this rise.