Marijuana Use On the Rise; Prescription Drug Abuse Continues Upward Trend

While there were slight decreases in the use of cocaine and methamphetamine among youth, teen marijuana use showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey, marijuana use among adolescents has increased gradually over the past two years after years of declining use; and past year rates of Vicodin and OxyContin abuse increased during the last 5 years among 10th graders and remained unchanged among 8th and 12th graders. The MTF Survey, which surveys youth in 8th, 10th and 12th graders, was released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the University of Michigan.

Several drugs showed signs of increasing with attitudes softening for drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy, inhalants and LSD. For example, the percentage of 8th graders who view occasional marijuana use as potentially harmful dropped to 44 percent, compared to 48 percent last year. In addition, the perception of “great risk” associated with marijuana use declined among 8th and 10th graders.

“So far, we have not seen any dramatic rise in marijuana use, but the upward trending of the past two or three years stands in stark contrast to the steady decline that preceded it for nearly a decade,” said University of Michigan researcher Lloyd Johnston, the lead investigator on the MTF survey.

The survey also showed no declines in the abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, with nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors reported using Vidodin non-medically; 1 in 20 reported abusing OxyContin.

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, cautioned that while there were no big jumps in drug use, that shouldn’t be cause for celebration. “We are containing drug use, but is containment really what we’re after? I would say certainly not,” he told the audience during a press conference in Washington, D.C. “If we’re not making progress, we’re probably losing ground.”

Another drug showing no signs of letting up was over-the-counter cough and cold medicines containing dextromethorphan (DXM), with annual prevalence rates remaining unchanged since 2006, when use of these drugs was first measured. Researchers are also concerned about the abuse of prescription stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While the annual prevalence rate of Ritalin abuse fell from 5 to 2 percent among 12th graders, more than 5 percent of 10th and 12th graders reported abusing Adderall, which is also used to treat ADHD and was included in the survey for the first time.

Other areas of concern from the survey were:
• From 2008 to 2009, lifetime, past month, and daily use of smokeless tobacco increased among 10th graders.
• The decline in alcohol use, including binge drinking, has leveled off among 10th and 12th graders, with only 8th graders showing a continued decline.
• Fewer 10th graders viewed weekend binge drinking as harmful, and fewer high school seniors disapproved of having one or two drinks every day. On the other hand, researchers noted that the perceived availability of alcohol among 8th graders decreased. “It would appear that state and local efforts to crack down on sales to underage buyers, perhaps along with greater parental vigilance, have had an effect,” Johnston noted.
• The perceived risk associated with using inhalants, ecstasy and LSD continued to decline.

CADCA has developed a Media Outreach Toolkit to help you obtain local media coverage of the Monitoring the Future findings. Help us educate the public about substance abuse by taking advantage of these tools! Visit www.monitoringthefuture.org for more information on the 2009 Monitoring the Future survey.