Citation

Miech RA, Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE, Patrick ME. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI USA: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, 2022.

Copyright

(Copyright 2022, Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan)

The full document is available online.

Abstract

Perhaps no social problem has proven more clearly appropriate for and in need of the application of systematic research and reporting than that of substance abuse. Substance-abusing behaviors are often hidden from public view, can change rapidly and frequently, and are of great importance to the well-being of the nation. Many legislative and programmatic interventions are aimed at these behaviors, such as the policies that were put into place in response to the increases in adolescent smoking and illicit drug use we reported in the 1970s and then again in the 1990s as a relapse in the drug epidemic unfolded.

Young people are often at the leading edge of social change, and this has been particularly true of drug use. The substantial changes in illicit drug use during the last 50 or so years have proven to be largely a youth phenomenon. MTF documented that the relapse in the drug epidemic in the early 1990s initially occurred almost exclusively among adolescents. Adolescents and adults in their 20s fall into the age groups at highest risk for illicit drug use. Moreover, for some drug users, use that begins in adolescence continues well into adulthood. This is indicated in the cohort effects that we report for a number of substances (and even in some attitudes and beliefs about them). The original epidemic of illicit drug use in the 1960s began on the nation’s college campuses and then spread downward in age. By way of contrast, MTF has shown that the relapse phase in the 1990s first manifested itself among secondary school students and then started moving upward in age as those cohorts matured.