~ Partnership for Drug-Free Kids Responds to 2015 Monitoring the Future Study ~
NEW YORK- December 16, 2015 – The University of Michigan’s
Monitoring the Future Study
(MTF), an annual survey tracking teen drug abuse among 40,000 8th-,
10th,- and 12th- graders, shows some positive inroads and encouraging
news in substance abuse among American youth.
Use of several illicit drugs – including MDMA (known as Ecstasy or
Molly), heroin, amphetamines and synthetic marijuana – showed a noted
decline in this year’s data. The MTF study also noted that teen use of
both alcohol and cigarettes reached their lowest points since the study
began in 1975. Marijuana use among our nation’s youth remained stable;
though teens’ perception of risk associated with marijuana use continue
to soften.
Teen Misuse and Abuse of Rx Medicines Declines, But Still at Nationally High Levels
MTF also found that misuse and abuse of prescription (Rx) drugs
among 12th graders has shown a gradual decline since 2005, when annual
prevalence was at 17 percent. This year’s data included a
non-statistically significant further decline in 2015 from 14 percent to
13 percent among high school seniors in the U.S. That means that more
than 1 in 10 high school seniors has abused a prescription drug at least
once in their lifetime. (In the MTF study, prescription drug abuse is
measured with an index that includes use of narcotics, sedatives,
tranquilizers and/or amphetamines without medical supervision and only
12th graders report on their use of all of these drugs).
However, while unchanged since last year, non-medical use of the Rx
stimulant Adderall remains high. MTF found that 7.5 percent of 12th
graders and 5.2 percent of 10th graders reported non-medical use of this
medication.
“The recent declines in the abuse of prescription pain medicines
among teens are encouraging. The Partnership has been working for quite
some time through both our Above the Influence program and the Medicine
Abuse Project to help educate teens, parents and communities about the
risks of medicine abuse and we are glad to see continued progress,” said
Marcia Lee Taylor, President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free
Kids. “The persistently high percentage of teens abusing Adderall is
certainly a cause for concern, however, the Partnership will be focusing
on that behavior in the coming year with a new documentary to educate
parents and communities about teen use of prescription stimulants like
Adderall to cope with stress and pressure to succeed.”
Added Taylor, “While today’s news about substance use among teens is
mostly positive, we cannot let that take our focus off of the
prescription drug and heroin crisis among other age groups. As a
country, we need to focus more of our attention and resources on
prevention and early intervention, rather than cleaning up a problem
once it has reached epidemic levels.”
The 2015 MTF survey of approximately 40,000 students in 8th, 10th and 12th grades also found:
- Use of MDMA (known as Ecstasy and Molly) has been falling since 2010.
- Cigarette smoking continued a decades long decline and reached the
lowest levels since the study began. The percentage of students
reporting they smoked in the past 30 days decreased for the three grades
combined from 8 percent to 7 percent – a statistically significant
drop.
- The proportion of secondary school students using heroin has fallen
gradually in the past few years, and it continued a gradual decrease in
all three grades in 2015.
- While most teens continue to report getting prescription medicine
they abuse from friends or family members, one-third report getting them
from their own prescriptions.
- Alcohol use by the nation’s teens also continued its long-term
decline in 2015. The three grades combined showed a further decline in
the proportion of students reporting any alcohol use in the past year
and also in the 30 days preceding the survey. In 2015, these rates are
at 40 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
Marijuana Use Remained Stable Among Teens in the U.S.
Marijuana, the most widely used illicit drug, did not show any
significant change in annual prevalence this year in any of the three
grades, nor in the three grades combined. After rising for several
years, the annual prevalence of marijuana use among teens has leveled
out since 2010. Perception of risk associated with marijuana use
continues to decline, however, moving from 36.1 percent of high school
seniors saying use was harmful to only 31.9 percent this year.
In 2015, 12 percent of 8th graders, 25 percent of 10th graders and
35 percent of 12th graders reported using marijuana at least once in
the past year. Of more importance, perhaps, is teens’ daily or near
daily marijuana use (defined as smoking marijuana on 20 or more
occasions in the past 30 days). These rates stand at 1.1 percent, 3
percent and 6 percent in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, respectively. And
for the first time ever, daily marijuana use exceeds daily tobacco use
among 12th graders.
The Partnership’s Above the Influence Program Empowers Youth to Be Their Authentic Selves
Above the Influence (ATI) is a popular and proven-effective drug and
alcohol prevention initiative created for American youth. With an online
community of over 1.5 million young people, the program has an active,
robust audience. ATI is the only prevention program of its kind that
exists in the U.S. for American teens and there is no other initiative
that works to prevent substance abuse and addiction on a national level.
The Partnership spearheads all national youth outreach, including
advertising, social media and campaign websites for Above the Influence.
ATI’s positive impact has been documented in several studies published
in respected peer-reviewed journals including
American Journal of Public Health and
Prevention Science.
Sumber
drugfree.org
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