JACKSON, Miss. – Teen drug use is at an all-time low, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
The survey found that fewer teens are using illegal drugs than ever before and fewer are getting involved with prescription drug abuse, which was said to be reaching an epidemic among adults.
“There are significant decreases in the patterns of drug consumption among teenagers in our country,” Dr. Nora Volkow told HeathDay News. “Quite significant, to the point where we have several drugs at the lowest levels that we’ve ever seen since the inception of the survey.”
In the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana, 14 percent of 12th graders admitted to using an illicit drug, compared to 18 percent in 2013.
When examining cigarette use, the drop in the number of users when compared to those measured a decade ago were staggering. Only five percent of high school seniors admit to smoking cigarettes every day. Ten years ago, it was 22 percent.
Marijuana use among teens was the only illicit drug to not drop in use.
Of older teens, 22.5 percent admitted to using pot within the past month and 6 percent admitted to daily use.
