Summary
Teen drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in the U.S. continues to decline, with record-low usage levels reported in 2023, according to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey.
Among 12th graders, 66% reported no recent use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, while 80% of 10th graders and 90% of 8th graders avoided these substances entirely.
Experts attribute the decline partly to reduced peer pressure during the pandemic.
However, nicotine pouch use has doubled among 12th graders, raising concerns.
Despite pop culture’s glamorization of smoking, teen cigarette use remains low.
Oy.
Yes, these self-reporting polls have been used for decade as one measurement device. They were fine when it was self-evident what “smoking”, “drinking”, and “drugs” meant.
Now the issues are far more complex and nuanced, and we now live in a world where the pharmacological knowledge of today’s random 14yo outshines what I would have learned in 2nd year university in the 90s.
Kids drink cough syrup recreationally because “that’s not drugs”. We still live in world of denial where benzos are “drugs” but alcohol isn’t because idk I guess the active molecules are suspended in liquid?
Young people have been propagandized and lied to, to the point many don’t even know if they’re “smoking” or not.