NCJ Number
177744
Date Published
December 1998
Length
0 pages
Annotation
The 1998 national survey results from the Monitoring the Future Study of American secondary school students show that illicit drug use by this population is decreasing after 6 years of steady increases.
Abstract
All three secondary school grades have shown some decline in the proportion of students who reported using any illicit drug during the 12 months prior to the survey. This is the second year of decline among 8th-graders and the first year of decline for the 10th- and 12th-graders. Marijuana accounted for most of the increase in overall illicit drug use during the 1990s and is now accounting for much of the decrease. The use of stimulants has declined for 2 years among 8th-graders and for 1 year among 10th-graders, and leveled among 12th-graders in 1998. Hallucinogens showed a decrease in use in all three grades. The use of inhalants continued a gradual decline that began 3 years ago, and the rise in the use of heroin, which began among teens in the 1990s, halted for all three grade levels by 1998. In general, crack use continues an upward drift in the lower grades; whereas, the use of powder cocaine has now leveled off in those grades. The increase in the use of tranquilizers in 8th grade halted in 1998, but a gradual increase in their use continued among 10th- and 12th graders. There was some decline in alcohol use at all three grades in both annual and monthly prevalence rates. 11 tables and 11 figures