New Monitoring the Future Report Shows Adolescent Drug Use Continues to Hold Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

According to the latest results from the Monitoring the Future survey, the percentage of adolescents reporting they used any illicit substances in 2023 continued to hold steady below the pre-pandemic levels reported in 2020, with 10.9 percent of eighth graders, 19.8 percent of 10th graders, and 31.2 percent of 12th graders reporting any illicit drug use in the past year.

Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically between 2020 and 2021, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing. In 2022, most reported substance use among adolescents held steady at these lowered levels, and these latest data show that this trend has continued this year.

Interestingly, cannabis and hallucinogen use as well as binge drinking behaviors were identified as reaching historic highs among adults aged 35 – 50. In the past year, 28% of middle-aged adults reported using cannabis in the past year, and 4% had used hallucinogens. Only 2% of adults aged 35-50 reported using hallucinogens in 2022, and five years ago the percentage reporting both marijuana or hallucinogen use was no greater than 1% in both categories.

The report also identified that vaping of nicotine and cannabis were higher than ever among young adults ages 19 to 30. 44% of young adults reported using cannabis in the past year, including more than 1-in-10 reported using cannabis almost every day, and 1-in-5 that had consumed cannabis by vaping. Nicotine vaping nearly doubled in this age group since it was first measured in 2017, moving from 14% in 2017 to 24% of adults reporting vaping nicotine in 2022.

Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of Americans from adolescence through adulthood. Each year, a total of approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed as part of the Main study (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991). The Monitoring the Future Panel study conducts annual follow up surveys with a subsample of each graduating class, who complete a follow up every two years from ages 19–30 and every five years from age 35 onward.