Human Services News

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

The number of American youths who tell researchers that they used illicit drugs within the last year continues to inch downward, but the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey also found stubbornly high levels of prescription-drug abuse and an end to the decline in smoking among young teens.

The survey of 50,000 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders found that the overall percentage of U.S. youths using alcohol or other drugs declined modestly in 2006, continuing a decade-long trend.

"They are getting the message that dangerous drugs damage their lives and limit their futures," said Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Use of inhalants did not increase in 2006, according to the study, but inhalant use has been rising among American youth in recent years.

Misuse of prescription drugs, which also has risen sharply in recent years, did not increase in 2006, but remained at "unacceptably high levels," according to a press release from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which sponsors the survey.

The Marijuana Policy Project, however, issued a report saying that prohibition of marijuana does not deter youth use of the drug.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, meanwhile, chose to tweak the drug czar's office, putting out a tongue-in-cheek chart noting that drug use has decreased at about the same rate as funding for ONDCP's antidrug media campaign has declined.

University of Michigan researchers also sounded an alarm about youth smoking, saying the MTF findings indicate that the trend toward lower smoking rates among children in their early and middle teens has ended.

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