A brand new period
“Youngsters who have been in eighth grade at the beginning of the pandemic can be graduating from highschool this yr, and this distinctive cohort has ushered within the lowest charges of substance use we’ve seen in a long time,” Miech famous.
For alcohol, use up to now 12 months amongst eighth graders was at 12.9 p.c in 2024, just like 2023 ranges, that are all-time lows. For tenth graders, the speed dropped considerably from 30.6 p.c in 2023 to 26.1 p.c, and for twelfth graders, from 45.7 p.c to 41.7 p.c—each report lows.
For nicotine vaping, charges fell for tenth graders (from 17.5 p.c to fifteen.4 p.c) and remained at low ranges for eighth and twelfth graders. For marijuana, use remained low for eighth and tenth graders and fell considerably for twelfth graders (from 29 p.c to 25.8 p.c). All three grades are at lows not seen since 1990.
For abstainers from alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine within the prior 30 days, the speed amongst eighth graders hit 90 p.c, up from 87 p.c in 2017, when it was first measured. The speed was 80 p.c amongst tenth graders, up from 69 p.c in 2017, and 67 p.c for twelfth graders, up from 53 p.c in 2017.
“This development within the discount of substance use amongst youngsters is unprecedented,” Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), mentioned. “We should proceed to research elements which have contributed to this lowered threat of substance use to tailor interventions to assist the continuation of this development.”