Study: Fewer Teens Using Marijuana and Alcohol

A recent Monitoring the Future survey of teens finds they are using less marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes. The study shows marijuana use among teens declined from 26 percent last year to 24 percent this year and alcohol use dropped from 43 percent last year to 41 percent this year. In 1997, the survey found 61 percent of teens said they had used alcohol in the past year. This year the proportion of teens who report binge drinking—consuming five or more drinks in a row at least once in the prior two weeks—fell to 12 percent, from a high of 22 percent in 1997.

University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, now in its 40th year, surveys 40,000 to 50,000 students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade in schools nationwide about their use of alcohol, legal and illegal drugs and cigarettes.

Read the news story.

See the full study results.