Although overall rates of illicit drug use among teenagers have continued
to drop over the past few years, the high proportion of those abusing
prescription painkillers is reason for concern, government officials reported
in December.
According to findings from the 2005 Monitoring the Future Survey, 5.5
percent of high school seniors reported using Oxycontin nonmedically in the
past year.
"Given the strength of this narcotic, I find this somewhat
worrisome," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, at a press conference announcing the findings in
Washington, D.C.
Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
pointed out that "the number-two illegal substance reported by
school-aged children, preceded by marijuana, is the painkiller
Vicodin."
Of the relatively high rates of prescription painkiller use among teens,
Walters said, "We do not believe that we have to make people sicker or
in more pain to control this."
Despite the fact that the use rates of certain drugs—narcotic pain
relievers, barbiturates, and inhalants, for instance—have risen over the
past several years, the proportion of students reporting past month use of any
illicit drug has dropped from 19.4 percent in 2001 to 15.8 percent in 2005, a
drop Volkow called "remarkable."
This reduction, she said, "highlights the importance of prevention
strategies and demonstrates that prevention works."
Researchers at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research
conduct the Monitoring the Future Survey each year among nationally
representative samples of approximately 50,000 students in the eighth, 10th,
and 12th grades in about 400 public and private schools across the country.
The study is funded by NIDA.
The questionnaires are administered to students in their classrooms by
University of Michigan staff each spring. The survey has been conducted since
1975 among high school seniors. In 1991 researchers also began to survey
eighth and 10th graders.
In 2005 the percentages of teens who reported having tried any illicit drug
during their lives were 21 percent, 38 percent, and 50 percent in grades
eight, 10, and 12, respectively, down just by one to two percentage points in
the lower grades from 2004.
"In other words," the report stated, "exactly half of the
students today have tried an illicit drug by the time they finish high
school."
Findings from the 2005 Monitoring the Future Survey showed continuing
downward trends in the use of a number of specific drugs:
Teens' use of some drugs increased, however:
"These inhalants are highly toxic and highly available," Volkow
pointed out.
According to Lloyd Johnston, Ph.D., principal investigator for the study,
the perceived risks of inhalants have been falling since 2001. For instance,
71.6 percent of eighth graders perceived regular inhalant use as harmful in
2001, while 64.1 percent did last year.
"Beliefs about the dangers of these drugs have proven to be very
important in driving the actual use of the drugs," he said, which may
signal future increases in inhalant use.