Teen drug use has significantly declined in the past year, according to the 2016 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey released on Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“What we’re seeing this year … was significant decreases in the patterns of illicit substances across all ages,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
This year’s MTF survey included responses from more than 45,000 students in both private and public schools across the country. The survey has been conducted since 1975, however, data from eighth-graders and high school sophomores weren’t included until 1991.
Survey results for 2016 showed illicit drug use other than marijuana hit its lowest rates in the history of the survey, with 14.3 percent of high school seniors reporting they used an illicit drug, compared to a peak of 17.8 percent in 2013. Nonmedical use of prescription opioid painkillers among high school seniors was at 4.8 percent, which is nearly half… (continue reading)
