Illegal Drug Use by Teens Drops

By: Paul Lim
College Press Staff Writer


A report out of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research says illegal drug use by teens has declined.  There has shown to be a gradual decline in illicit drug use by eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders for the past decade.  Drugs like marijuana and methamphetamines have seen drops in teen usage.  Despite the news regarding illegal drugs, prescription drugs still appear to be a problem with the use of painkillers still a problem among young people.

According to Reuters, in 1996, 24 percent of eighth graders say they had tried an illicit drug, in 2007, the survey report that number has dropped to 13 percent.  For tenth graders, the drop went from 39 to 28, and for twelfth graders, it went from 42 to 36.

Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse says, “Despite all of the successes of reduction of all of the illicit substances, the use of prescription medications has not budged.”  The survey found more than 15 percent of twelfth graders have misused prescription drugs.  One out of 20 say they used the drug OxyCotin to try to get high, while one out of every ten is said to have used the drug Vicodin.

John Walters, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy says, “These are certainly dangerous, mostly synthetic opiates that are the most widely abused,”  He explains, “they are not only a source of addiction, but they can be a source of seizure, even death, when taken in quantities.”

While drops in the use of ecstacy and Ritalin were also cited, the survey also found no changes with teen usage of cocaine, crack cocaine, and LSD.