Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.

But, according to data released Tuesday, the number of eighth, 10th, and 12th graders who collectively abstained from the use of alcohol, marijuana, or nicotine hit a new high this year. Use of illicit drugs also fell on the whole and use of non-heroin narcotics (Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet) hit an all-time low. //

The initial drop in drug use between 2020 and 2021 was among the largest ever recorded. And researchers like Miech expected the rates would bounce back, at least partially. But now, the data suggests the pandemic has started a wave of abstention that is still rippling through grade levels. //

Apophasis Seniorius Lurkius
7y
40
Subscriptor++
Apophasis said:
Maybe less IRL exposure to drugs as a consequence of more screen time?
Half right 🤷‍♂️

From the press release:

"[The continued declines] suggest that a delay in drug use initiation during adolescence could potentially lower substance use trajectories over a lifetime, Miech says.

Such a delay, he says, may prevent youth from associating with drug-using peer groups that encourage continued use and may forestall biological processes that contribute to the development of addiction."