Youth Substance Use in the US: 2022 Report

According to the latest report from a monitoring and survey agency in the United States, which assesses illegal substance use and associated attitudes in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, the proportion of American teenagers using illegal substances remained relatively stable in 2022 following a significant decrease in 2021. Almost all substances reported a decrease in usage from 2020 to 2021, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes such as school closures and social distancing.

By 2022, it is expected that all grade levels mentioned in the report will maintain or demonstrate a substantial decrease in the use of illegal substances within the past year. Currently, 11% of eighth graders, 21.5% of tenth graders, and 32.6% of twelfth graders reported using illegal drugs within the past year.

The Monitoring the Future survey is conducted annually by researchers from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is a part of the National Institutes of Health.

A recent study found that alcohol, nicotine e-cigarettes, and marijuana are the most commonly reported substances used by teenagers in the past year, with levels remaining relatively stable compared to 2021. While there were some substances that showed an increase in reported usage from the previous year, the majority of reported usage levels remained the same or lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2020. When compared to levels observed in 2021, data reported in 2022 shows:

Nicotine electronic cigarettes remain stable among all three grades, with 12% of eighth graders, 20.5% of tenth graders, and 27.3% of twelfth graders reporting the use of nicotine in the past year.

The results of the survey indicate that the prevalence of cannabis use among students in grades eight, ten, and twelve has remained stable. 8.3% of eighth-grade students, 19.5% of tenth-grade students, and 30.7% of twelfth-grade students reported using cannabis in the past year. It is noteworthy that 6% of eighth-grade students, 15% of tenth-grade students, and 20.6% of twelfth-grade students reported smoking cannabis in the past year, indicating that the prevalence among eighth and twelfth-grade students has remained stable while there has been a slight increase in reported cannabis use among tenth-grade students, although the 2022 figures for tenth-graders are significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

The rate of alcohol consumption among eighth and tenth grade students remained steady (with 15.2% and 31.3% respectively reporting drinking in the past year), but the rate among twelfth grade students has returned to pre-pandemic levels (with 51.9% of twelfth graders reporting drinking in the past year in 2022).

According to a survey, the use of any illegal drugs other than marijuana has remained stable among all three grades surveyed. 4.9% of eighth-grade students, 5.7% of tenth-grade students, and 8% of twelfth-grade students reported using any illegal drugs other than marijuana in the past year. These data are based on long-term trends that show relatively low and stable levels of illicit substance use among adolescents, including the use of cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, and non-medical use of prescription drugs over the past year.

During the period of 2021 to 2022, there was a slight increase in the number of 12th grade students using anesthesia other than heroin, including Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet (1.7% of 12th grade students reported using these drugs in the past year). This level remained consistent with pre-pandemic observations in 2019 and 2020 (2.7% and 2.1% respectively).