Statistics

Youth Drug and Alcohol Statistics 2022

These statistics about teen substance abuse tell only part of the story: Behind each statistic lies a devastated family, medical, financial and psychological ordeals, car accidents, lost jobs, derailed college experiences, incarceration and sometimes death by accident, homicide, overdose or suicide.

Adolescence – a time of innocence, exploration and vulnerability – can be a dangerous or even deadly time when young people use drugs or alcohol. Whether it’s a one-time “experiment” or daily drug or alcohol abuse, teens who consume drugs or alcohol may encounter significant problems including:

• School absenteeism, poor or failing grades, and lack of motivation and focus.
• Social problems, such as aggression, fighting or “checking out” of youth activities.
• Legal problems, such as DUI arrests or injuring someone while drunk or high.
• Physical problems, such as hangovers or illnesses.
• Unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity.
• Poor judgement and risk-taking.
• Disruption of normal growth and sexual development.
• Physical and sexual assault.
• Higher risk for suicide and homicide.
• Alcohol or drug-related car crashes and other unintentional injuries, such as burns, falls, and drowning.
• Memory problems.
• Abuse of other drugs.
• Changes in brain development that may have life-long effects.
• Death from alcohol poisoning or drug overdose.

Good news about recent declines in youth drug and alcohol use

The 2022 Monitoring the Future ¹ study of youth attitudes and behaviors showed that:

• Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically from 2020 to 2021 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing. That’s according to the latest summary from the Monitoring the Future survey of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States.
• In 2022, reported use of any illicit drug within the past year remained at or significantly below pre-pandemic levels for all grades, with 11% of eighth graders, 21.5% of 10th graders, and 32.6% of 12th graders reporting any illicit drug use in the past year.²
• Nicotine vaping remained stable for all three grades surveyed, with 12% of eighth graders, 20.5% of 10th graders, and 27.3% of 12th graders reporting vaping nicotine in the past year. the substantial decreases in prevalence that took place the previous year from 2020 to 2021 largely persisted in 2022.
• Cannabis use remained stable for all three grades surveyed, with 8.3% of eighth graders, 19.5% of 10th graders, and 30.7% of 12th graders reporting cannabis use in the past year.
• 71% of 8th graders disapprove of people who smoke marijuana occasionally.
• 63% of high school seniors disapprove of the regular use of marijuana
• Teens know that misusing prescription meds is dangerous: When asked about the perceived harmfulness of occasionally taking prescription medications (such as OxyContin and Vicodin) or the risk of “narcotics other than heroin,” 22.9% of eighth graders and 52.9% of 12th graders perceived a “great risk.”
• Youth who reported perceiving a “great risk” associated with taking Adderall occasionally ranged from 28.1% among eighth graders to 39.6% among 12th graders.

While on the decline, underage drinking continues to be common and risky

Youth alcohol use HAS been on a long-term, overall decline, and all measures are at substantially lower levels than they were in the year 2000. The Monitoring the Future study showed that, from 2001 to 2022, past 12-month prevalence of alcohol has decreased from 73% to 52% in 12th grade, from 64% to 31.3% in 10th grade, and from 42% to 15.2% in 8th grade.¹

The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey² found that among high school students, during the past 30 days:

• 29% drank alcohol.
• 14% binge drank (four or more drinks in a couple of hours for females; 5 or more for males).
• 5% of drivers drove after drinking alcohol.
• 17% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

And the price of underage drinking is steep

• Excessive drinking is responsible for more than 3,900 deaths and 225,000 years of potential life lost among people under age 21 each year. 3 Unintentional injury, homicide and suicide are associated with excessive drinking among youth aged 12 to 20 years.
• Early initiation of drinking is associated with the development of an alcohol use disorder later in life.⁴

But the biggest killer of all is Fentanyl

• While youth drug use may be declining, there has been a dramatic rise in overdose deaths among young people ages 14-18. This increase is largely attributed to illicit fentanyl, a potent synthetic drug that is often used in the manufacture of counterfeit pills made to resemble prescription medications like benzodiazepines, ADHD medications, and opioids.⁵
• Illicit Fentanyl is almost impossible to detect, and the DEA has reported that more than 4 in 10 pills are laced with this deadly synthetic opioid.⁶
• Drug or alcohol overdoses are the number one cause of accidental death in the USA. According to the CDC, there were over 107,000 fatal overdoses in the U.S. in 2021. About two-thirds of those deaths involved fentanyl or another synthetic opioid.⁷

The bottom line: defer, or don’t use drugs/alcohol at all

Teens who use drugs or alcohol while their brains are still maturing may be “priming” the brain to develop substance use disorder (commonly known as “addiction” or “alcoholism”).⁹

• Nine out of 10 people who abuse or are addicted to nicotine, alcohol or other drugs began using these substances before they were 18 years old.¹⁰
• Teens’ brains have a chance to develop more fully if they defer any drug or alcohol use until their early twenties.

Seize your parental “prevention power”

Teens who consistently learn about the risks of drugs via caring, thoughtful conversations with parents or guardians are significantly less likely to use drugs than those who don’t. For example, children are more likely to avoid drinking when they have a strong, trusting relationship with their parents.⁸ Our “Reducing the Risks and Talking with your Teen” guide can help you guide those critical conversations.

Sources

1. https://monitoringthefuture.org/
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2019. MMWR Suppl 2020;69:1–83.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alcohol-Related Disease Impact Application website. Accessed September 19, 2022.
4. Buchmann AF, Schmid B, Blomeyer D, et al. Impact of age at first drink on vulnerability to alcohol-related problems: Testing the marker hypothesis in a prospective study of young adults. J Psychiatr Res 2009;43:1205–1212.
5. https://monitoringthefuture.org/
6. https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/fake-prescription-pills
7. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm
8. Nash, S.G., McQueen, A., and Bray, J.H. (2005).Pathways to adolescent alcohol use: Family environment, peer influence, and parental expectations. Journal of Adolescent Health, 37 (1), 19-28.
9. https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/nida-notes/2018/02/long-term-marijuana-use-associated-health-problems-later-in-life
10. Lichenstein, S.D., Musselman, S., Shaw, D.S., et al. Nucleus accumbens functional connectivity at age 20 is associated with trajectory of adolescent cannabis use and predicts psychosocial functioning in young adulthood. Addiction 112(11):1961-1970, 2017.