Alcohol and drug use among teens was down in 2014, according to the
2014 Monitoring the Future study by the University of Michigan and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse.
The annual survey of 40,000 eighth-, 10th-, and 12th-graders was conducted in the spring and released Tuesday.
Both alcohol and cigarette use among teens are at their lowest points since 1975, the survey found,
according to a news release. Marijuana use among teens declined slightly after five years of increasing. At the same time, belief that regular marijuana use harms the user also fell along with personal disapproval of use.
“With the rates of many drugs decreasing, and the rates of marijuana use appearing to level off, it is possible that prevention efforts are having an effect,” Nora D. Volkow, director of the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, said, according to Bloomberg.
Christopher Ingraham pointed out in a blog for The Washington Post that the drop in drug and use came in the midst of a nationwide conversation about drug reform, including the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington.
“This isn't to say that repealing harsh marijuana laws will necessarily cause teen use to trend downward. But it does at the very least illustrate that it's impossible to draw a straight line from ‘relaxing marijuana laws’ to ‘increased teen use,’” Ingraham wrote.
The study’s authors say work remains to curtail drug and alcohol use among teens.
"There is a lot of good news in this year's results, but the problems of teen substance use and abuse are still far from going away,"
Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal investigator, said, according to USA Today.
Twitter users shared mixed reactions.
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