US Department of Health and Human Services

Two major national data sets that report on drug use among youth, both sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services. The first, the Monitoring the Future Study (MTF), provides the greater level of detail about youth drug use, reporting on the use of those in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades and following youth use on into early adult life. The second, the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), provides drug use data on Americans living in households.

The data collection period for the latest NHSDA covers Calendar Year 1999, before the MTF, which was done in the Spring of 2000. This timing shift may account for some differences in results among youth. The NHSDA is a nationally representative household survey and includes drug use for that portion of the household population aged 12 to 17, which is roughly comparable in age to the school-based MTF. Key findings from both studies follow:

I. Monitoring the Future Study (MTF)

Main Findings: Results from the 2000 MTF indicate that we are holding the line against drug use. Use of most illicit drugs in all three grades remained unchanged from 1998 and 1999, and this year's findings signal the fourth year in a row that drug use rates have leveled or declined since their rapid rise in the early 1990s Among the Study's findings:

Cocaine. Use of cocaine overall, as well as for both forms of cocaine (crack and powder cocaine) decreased in several categories among 12th graders:

• Past year use of cocaine overall declined 19 percent (from 6.2% to 5.0%).
• Past year use of crack cocaine declined 19 percent (from 2.7% to 2.2%).
• Past year and past month use of powder cocaine declined 22 percent (from 5.8% to 4.5%) and 32 percent (from 2.5% to 1.7%), respectively.

Heroin. Heroin use in the MTF population remains a relatively rare event. Data for 2000 show that snorting or smoking versus intravenous use as the preferred route of administration among 10th and 12th graders, with equal proportions of 8th graders using the two routes. Specific findings for heroin include:

• Past year use of heroin among 8th graders declined 21 percent (from 1.4% to 1.1%).
• Past year use of heroin among 12th graders increased 36 percent (from 1.1% to 1.5%) and snorting or smoking as the route of administration increased 60 percent (from 1.0% to 1.6%).
  NOTE: This increase in heroin use among 12th graders may be a cohort effect, reflecting the aging of the 8th graders of 1996, who showed increased heroin use for that year and are now seniors in high school.

Hallucinogens. Despite a sharp rise in the use of MDMA/ecstasy (see below), which the MTF classifies as an hallucinogen, past year and past month use of all categories of hallucinogens showed the following declines among 10th and 12th graders:

• Past year and past month use among 12th graders was down 14 percent (from 9.4% to 8.1%) and 26 percent (from 3.5% to 2.6%), respectively.
• Past month use among 10th graders was down 21 percent (from 2.9% to 2.3%).

LSD. LSD is a category of hallucinogen. For 2000 past year use among 12th graders declined 10 percent (from 8.1% to 6.6%). Past month use among 10th and 12th graders declined 30 percent (from 2.3% to 1.6%) and 44 percent (from 2.7% to 1.6%), respectively.

While the general findings from the 2000 MTF are positive, there were some exceptions:

MDMA/Ecstasy: Notable increases in use of MDMA/ecstasy, the prime "club drug," were found in all three grades.

• 8th graders: Past year use increased 82 percent between 1999 and 2000 (from 1.7% to 3.1%). Past month use increased 75 percent (from 0.8% to 1.4%).
• 10th graders: Past month use increased 44 percent between 1999 and 2000 (from 1.8% to 2.6%).
• 12th graders: Past year use increased 46 percent from 1999 to 2000 (from 5.6% to 8.2%).

Steroids. Past year use of steroids among 10th graders increased 29 percent (from 1.7% to 2.2%). This follows an increase of 42 percent last year (from 1.2% to 1.7%). Steroid use in the other grades dropped.