Reported Drug Use Among Adolescents Remained Low in 2024

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After declining significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, substance use among adolescents has continued to hold steady at lowered levels for the fourth year in a row, according to the latest results from the NIH-funded Monitoring the Future Survey. These recent data continue to document stable and declining trends in the use of most drugs among young people.

Reported use for almost all measured 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 and 2023, most reported substance use among adolescents held steady at these lowered levels, with similar trends and some decreases in use in 2024.

The Monitoring the Future survey is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and funded by NIDA. The survey is given annually to students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades who self-report their substance use behaviors over various time periods. The survey also documents students’ perceptions of harm, disapproval of use and perceived availability of drugs. The survey results are released the same year the data are collected.

When breaking down the data by specific drugs, the survey found that adolescents most commonly reported use of alcohol, nicotine vaping and cannabis in the 12 months prior to the survey, and levels generally declined from or held steady with the lowered use reported over the past few years.

Dr. Richard Miech, survey team lead, said, “Kids who were in eighth grade at the start of the pandemic will be graduating from high school this year, and this unique cohort has ushered in the lowest rates of substance use we’ve seen in decades.”