Risky Behavior - Uncommon Substance Use Trends: Young People

The chart uses data from the Monitoring the Future Study (see previous discussion). It shows trends in drug use among high school seniors (percentage using the named drugs at any time during the previous year). The data are shown in tabular form below. Notice that drug use was up slightly in 1998 over 1995. Recent studies show that all drug use among students declined in the aftermath of September 11.

Percentage of High School Seniors Who Used Drugs in the Last Year

Type of drug	1976	1980	1985	1990	1995	1998
Any illicit drug other than marijuana	25.4	30.4	27.4	17.9	19.4	20.2
Stimulants	15.8	20.8	15.8	9.1	9.3	10.1
LSD	6.4	6.5	4.4	5.4	8.4	7.6
Cocaine	6.0	12.3	13.1	5.3	4.0	5.7
Sedatives	10.7	10.3	5.8	3.6	4.9	6.0
Tranquilizers	10.3	8.7	6.1	3.5	4.4	5.5

Use of LSD and inhalants was up in the 1990s. The rise and fall of a drug's popularity often follows this course: A new drug comes on the scene (for example, LSD in the 1970s, "crack" cocaine in the 1980s, Ecstasy in the 1990s). News of the drug's "benefits" is disseminated by word of mouth and now by way of the Internet. More young people begin using the drug. Evidence accumulates about the risks and is broadcast. Researchers begin collecting statistics. Use of the drug declines. Sometimes a drug is revived, as happened with LSD in the 1990s. Researchers for Monitoring the Future call this type of revival "generational forgetting."

Use of inhalants ("sniffing" or "huffing") has been around for a long time (nitrous oxide, ether, chloroform, amyl nitrite, and gasoline have all had their day as popular inhalants). The intoxicating possibilities of common household products became widely recognized in the 1960s. Huffing is especially popular today among the very young (as early as 7 according to studies).¹⁹ This disturbing behavior has introduced a new medical diagnosis: Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome, more common in boys than girls.

Also making headlines in the 1990s were MDMA (Ecstasy) and Rohypnol (the "date rape" drug), called "club drugs" because they are popular at all-night parties called "raves." Monitoring the Future researchers report that in 2000, 8.2% of 12th graders and 9.1% of college students surveyed confessed to using Ecstasy in the last year.

It is unlikely that drug experimentation by young people will ever disappear completely, despite widespread anti-drug advertising. Meanwhile, teens who are tired of hearing the constant refrain: "Don't do this, don't do that," were dealt a blow in June 2002 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow random drug testing of public high school students who take part in any extracurricular activities. Critics questioned the benefits of such an invasion of the privacy of this particular group of students. Supporters point to polls showing that Americans consider drugs to be one of the greatest problems facing America's children today.

Next we will look at drug and alcohol use trends among adults.

Sources: Chart: National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 1999 (Primary source: University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future Study), retrieved July 19, 2002, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/condition99/SupTables/supp-table-27-1.html. Siri Carpenter, "Teens' risky behavior is about more than race and family resources," Monitor on Psychology, retrieved July 17, 2002, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan01/teenbehavior.html. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Monitoring the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use, Overview of Key Findings, retrieved July 19, 2002, from http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/overview2001.pdf.