“Unprecedented” decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

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“Children who were in eighth grade at the start of the pandemic will graduate from high school this year, a unique group experiencing some of the lowest rates of substance use in decades,” Mitch noted.

For alcohol, the past 12-month drinking rate among eighth-grade students in 2024 is 12.9%, similar to 2023 levels and both historically low levels. For 10th graders, this dropped significantly from 30.6% to 26.1% in 2023, and for 12th graders, it dropped from 45.7% to 41.7%, both record lows.

For nicotine e-cigarettes, use declined among 10th graders (from 17.5% to 15.4%) and remained low among eighth and 12th graders. In terms of marijuana, use among eighth- and 10th-grade students remained low, with a significant decrease among 12th-grade students (from 29% to 25.8%). All three scores are at their lowest levels since 1990.

The rate of eighth-graders who had abstained from alcohol, marijuana and nicotine in the past 30 days was 90%, up from 87% in 2017 when it was first measured. The proportion of 10th grade students is 80%, up from 69% in 2017; the proportion of 12th graders is 67%, up from 53% in 2017.

“The trend toward decreased substance use among adolescents is unprecedentedNora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health, said, “We must continue to investigate the factors that lead to reduced risk of substance abuse to develop interventions to support this The trend continues.