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American students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades are continuing to show a gradual decline in their use of certain drugs, specifically amphetamines, methamphetamine, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine and crack, according to the 34th annual national survey in the Monitoring the Future series conducted by scientists at the Institute for Social Research.
“These certainly are positive developments and the longer term decline in the use of methamphetamine, which continued this year in grade 12, is particularly important,” says Lloyd Johnston, the study’s principal investigator. “The use of this highly addictive drug is now down by about two-thirds among teens since 1999, when its use was first measured.”
All of the drugs that continued to decline this year are central nervous system stimulants. Their decline in use had the effect of modestly lowering the proportion of students reporting use of any illicit drug other than marijuana, statistically significant only in 10th grade where annual prevalence — the percentage reporting any use in the prior 12 months — declined by 1.7 percentage points to 11.3 percent. (The comparable rates at eighth and 12th grades stood at 7.4 percent and 18.3 percent, respectively, in 2008.)
“The other side of the coin is that many other drugs monitored by the study did not show evidence of further decline this year, though several of them have shown declines in the recent past,” Johnston says.
These drugs include LSD, other hallucinogens taken as a class, PCP specifically, ecstasy, heroin, narcotics other than heroin taken as a class (and OxyContin and Vicodin, specifically), tranquilizers, sedatives (including barbiturates), and three so-called club drugs — ketamine, Rohypnol and GHB.
Several of these drugs have shown considerable decline in recent years, including hallucinogens and club drugs. But a number of other drugs remain near their recent peaks in use, in particular many of the prescription drugs — narcotics other than heroin, OxyContin specifically, Vicodin specifically, tranquilizers, and sedatives (including barbiturates). Johnston notes these prescription drugs are all central nervous system depressants.
The overall proportion of each age group reporting use of any illicit drug in the prior 12 months actually rose this year in grades eight and 12, though by less than one percentage point. That is because marijuana, which tends to drive this index because it is by far the most widely used of the illicit drugs, rose in grades eight and 12 by 0.6 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively. (None of these changes are statistically significant.)
“So, overall this would have to be characterized as a year of limited, and rather modest change,” Johnston says.
OTC cough, cold medications
Questions were introduced into the study in 2006 about the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medications taken for the purpose of getting high. Most drugs abused in this way contain the cough suppressant dextromethorphan as an active ingredient. The rates observed in 2006 were fairly high, with annual prevalence rates of 4 percent, 5 percent and 7 percent in grades eight, 10, and 12.
While the annual prevalence rate is the same for 10th-graders as in 2006, the eighth- and 12th-graders show evidence of declines in their use. Eighth-graders’ prevalence has fallen by 0.6 percentage points and 12th graders’ by 1.3 percentage points (a statistically significant decline).
Anabolic steroids
Monitoring the Future tracked a fairly sharp increase in the use of anabolic steroids by male teens in the late 1990s, with peak levels reached in 1999 among eighth-grade males, in 2000 among 10th-grade males, and in 2001 and 2002 among 12th-grade males. Since those peak years, the annual prevalence rate has dropped by more than half among eighth- and 10th-grade males (to 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively), and by one-third among 12th-grade males (to 2.5 percent annual prevalence in 2008).
Trends in alcohol use
The use of alcohol by teens has declined considerably since recent peaks in use were reached in the mid-1990s. The proportional declines since recent peak rates are smaller for the older students, nearly one-third for 10th-graders and one-sixth for 12th-graders. The greater long-term decline in use among eighth-graders may well reflect the greater decline in their reported availability of alcohol. In 1996, 75 percent thought that they could get alcohol if they wanted some, whereas by 2008 the percentage had fallen to 64 percent.
Sources of prescription drugs
The continuing misuse of prescription drugs by young people is a matter of concern, so the investigators added questions to the survey in 2007 to determine how students acquire these drugs. They asked students who used amphetamines, tranquilizers or narcotics other than heroin in the prior year how they got these drugs. The most commonly reported source was getting them free from a friend or relative, followed closely by being sold the drugs by a friend or relative.
“Clearly the informal networks of relatives and friends play a major role in the distribution of these prescription drugs to young users,” Johnston says.
