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Illicit drug use among US teenagers dropped sharply in 2021 likely because of stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on social activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest findings, from the Monitoring the Future survey, represent the largest 1-year decrease in overall illicit drug use reported since the survey began in 1975.
“We have never seen such dramatic decreases in drug use among teens in just a 1-year period,” Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), said in a news release.
“These data are unprecedented and highlight one unexpected potential consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused seismic shifts in the day-to-day lives of adolescents,” said Volkow.
The annual Monitoring the Future survey is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and funded by NIDA, to assess drug and alcohol use and related attitudes among adolescent students across the United States.
This year’s self-reported survey included 32,260 students in grades 8, 10, and 12 across 319 public and private schools.
Compared with 2020, the percentage of students reporting any illicit drug use (other than marijuana) in 2021 decreased significantly for 8th graders (down 5.4%), 10th graders (down 11.7%), and 12th graders (down 4.8%).
Significant declines were also seen among the three most commonly used drugs in adolescence: marijuana, alcohol, and vaped nicotine.
For alcohol, about 47% of 12th graders and 29% of 10th graders said they drank alcohol in 2021, down significantly from 55% and 41%, respectively, in 2020. The percentage of 8th graders who said they drank alcohol remained stable (17% in 2021 and 20% in 2020).
For teen vaping, about 27% of 12th graders and 20% of 10th graders said they had vaped nicotine in 2021, down significantly from nearly 35% and 31%, respectively, in 2020. Fewer 8th graders also vaped nicotine in 2021 compared with 2020 (12% vs 17%).
For marijuana, use dropped significantly for all three grades in 2021 compared with 2020. About 31% of 12th graders and 17% of 10th graders said they used marijuana in 2021, down from 35% and 28% in 2020. Among 8th graders, 7% used marijuana in 2021, down from 11% in 2020.
The latest survey also shows significant declines in use of a range of other drugs for many of the age cohorts, including cocaine, hallucinogens, and nonmedical use of amphetamines, tranquilizers, and prescription opioids.
“We knew that this year’s data would illuminate how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted substance use among young people, and in the coming years, we will find out whether those impacts are long-lasting as we continue tracking the drug use patterns of these unique cohorts of adolescents,” Richard A. Miech, PhD, who heads the Monitoring the Future study at the University of Michigan, said in the news release.
“Moving forward, it will be crucial to identify the pivotal elements of this past year that contributed to decreased drug use — whether related to drug availability, family involvement, differences in peer pressure, or other factors — and harness them to inform future prevention efforts,” Volkow added.
In 2021, students across all age groups reported moderate increases in feelings of boredom, anxiety, depression, loneliness, worry, difficulty sleeping, and other negative mental health indicators since the beginning of the pandemic.
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