Both parents and educational professionals often ask me what substances young people seem to use the most and what today’s trends are. Often, adults who pose this question have a preconceived notion of what the predominant substances are and, not surprisingly these notions vary. To give the most up to date answers, I spent some time reviewing data from the 2017 Monitoring the Future Study out of the University of Michigan.
The Monitoring the Future Study is the leading nationwide study on youth substance use. Over 40,000 students from 360 public and private schools participate in the survey. It can be found on-line at http://monitoringthefuture.org. This survey has been in use since 1975, with questions updated to reflect new substances and trends.
The study notes some regional differences between parts of the country and between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. South Orange county youth have slightly higher rates for vaping, marijuana, and alcohol. But, overall, our local trends closely mirror the national trends described in Monitoring the Future Study.
After reading some of the 590 pages here is what I am concerned about:
- 33% of 12th grade youth surveyed drank alcohol in the past 30 days, 45% of 12th graders and 25% of 10th graders had been drunk in their lifetime and 20% of 12th graders have been drunk in the past 30 days. This number has been dropping slowly as prevention efforts have been funded through alcohol taxes. However, any teen alcohol use under the age of 18 greatly increases the chance that problems with alcohol and other drugs will stay with this child throughout their life.
- 45% of 12th graders and 31% of 10th graders have used marijuana in their lifetime, with 23% and 16% respectively having used in the past month. For all three grades surveyed past year use increased by 1.3%. This is the only statistically significant increase in use in the survey. The marijuana our youth are using has very high amounts of THC and the statistics on marijuana addiction may become startling as this generation of youth matures.
- 8% of 12th graders, 23.9% of 10th graders, and 13.3% of 8th graders report vaping in the past year. This is the first year that vaping has been included in the survey. 1 in 10 twelfth graders and 1 in 12 tenth graders have vaped marijuana oil – typically the THC levels in this “juice” are 85-95%. Based on campus activity, we expect to see this number trend upward unless we all work to educate young people on the health risks of e-cigs.
Here are some items that counter some of the misconceptions I hear from community members. And reinforce that most of our youth are making healthy choices.
- Use of any type of tobacco products are at all time lows.
- Youth alcohol use continues to be a downward trend for past year, past thirty days and binge drinking.
- Heroin use is below .5% – youth overwhelmingly stay away from this highly addictive substance.
- Cocaine use is 3.9% among 12th Any cocaine use is worrisome, but again this is not a privately used substance among youth under the age of 18.
- Use of any prescription drugs are under 5% and continuing to decline, as prescribing regulations improve, and prevention efforts increase.
The takeaway from this data is that teens perception of adult views on alcohol, marijuana and other illicit drug use is key to prevention efforts. Teens have witnessed the medicalization of marijuana and then the normalization of recreational marijuana and seem to be viewing this as a safe substance with little consequence for use. Youth are inundated by advertising and promotion of alcohol as part of our culture and are often introduced to drinking in their homes by a sibling or other family member. Tobacco prevention has been very effective but has now been countered by extremely effective marketing of vaping devices to our teens.
And finally, I would like to stress that most of our youth choose to make healthy decisions about what they put into their bodies. However, they need the adults in their lives to continue to discuss these topics as these discussions do have a strong influence over how youth lead their lives.
In honor of Red Ribbon week, which is the last week in October, students will likely be participating in Red Ribbon activities during their school day. This is a great opportuning to engage young people in conversation about these activities and what Red Ribbon week means to them. Parents have a huge influence of their child’s decisions. It’s a fact, children whose parents talk to them about the risks of alcohol and other drugs are much less likely to use them. For tips on how to have these discussions, visit Raisinghealthyteens.org and drugfree.org.