December 21, 2006 -- Study Finds Shifts to Prescription, OTC Drugs in Teens

The good news is that use of illicit drugs has declined somewhat among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, but the bad news is that students in those grades are increasingly turning to prescription opioids such as Vicodin and to over-the-counter medications such as cough syrup to get their highs, according to the 2006 Monitoring the Future survey released today. “Of significant concern is the finding that past-year use of Vicodin remained high among all three grades, with nearly one in ten high school seniors using it in the past year,” the survey reported. Use of another opioid—OxyContin—dropped slightly among 12th graders but increase significantly among 8th and 10th grade students. On the other hand, the survey found marijuana use for all three grades “declined significantly” from 2005 to 2006, cigarette smoking is at an all-time low for all three grades, and past-month use of alcohol “continued to trend downward.” Monitoring the Future is a nationwide survey that measures drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students; the survey has been conducted since 1975 by investigators at the University of Michigan. The text of this year’s report is available at http://monitoringthefuture.org.