NCJ Number
225997
Date Published
November 2008
Length
342 pages
Annotation
Data findings are presented from a national survey conducted by the National Institute of Drug Abuse on drug use by college students and adults, ages 19 to 45 for the years 1977 to 2007.
Abstract
Key findings are presented in the areas of trends in illicit drug use, in alcohol use, and in cigarette smoking, racial/ethnic comparisons, drug use in eighth grade, and drug use by age 45. A summary of the findings on trends include: (1) for more than a decade, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, the use of a number of illicit drugs declined appreciably among 12th grade students, and declined even more among American college students and young adults; (2) levels of marijuana availability, as reported by 12th grade students, have held fairly steady throughout the life of the study; (3) the perceived availability of cocaine was actually rising during the beginning of the sharp decline in cocaine and crack use in the mid- to late 1980s, which occurred when the perceived risk associated with that drug rose sharply; and (4) all populations showed some increase in LSD use, continuing a longer term trend for college students and young adults. Monitoring the Future is one of the Nation’s most relied upon sources of information on changes taking place in licit and illicit psychoactive drug use among American adolescents, college students, young adults, and now, middle-aged adults. Published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the report is a major vehicle by which the epidemiological findings are reported. The project conducts in-school surveys of nationally representative samples of 12th grade students since 1975 and 8th and 10th grade students each year since 1991. Followup surveys have been conducted on representative subsamples of respondents from each previously participating 12th grade class. The followup surveys continue into young adulthood and beyond. Tables, figures, and index