Sunday, August 28, 2022

Annual US drug survey finds use of psychedelics at a record high

Not good news! Drug use disorders remain a serious issue! There are no easy solutions! A difficult subject! 

E.g. how much drug use is fairly harmless and temporary or exploring/experimenting and how much is more long lasting, harmful, excessive and of concern etc.?

"New data from an annual drug-use survey supported by the US National Institutes of Health has found recreational use of psychedelics among older adults in the US is at the highest point ever-recorded in the survey’s nearly 40-year history. The data also indicates while alcohol and tobacco consumption is still trending down, marijuana-use has increased. ...
The Monitoring The Future (MTF) study began in 1975, initially surveying drug-use habits in a single class of senior high school students. Over the next few years the survey expanded to include younger school students, while annually following up with all prior participants. ...
On the other hand, marijuana use has unsurprisingly dramatically increased over the past decade, with 42.6% of young adults reporting using the drug at some point over the past 12 months, up from 28.6% in 2012. ..."

From the government news release:
"Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988, according to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study. Rates of past-month nicotine vaping, which have been gradually increasing in young adults for the past four years, also continued their general upward trend in 2021, despite leveling off in 2020. Past-month marijuana vaping, which had significantly decreased in 2020, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. 
Alcohol remains the most used substance among adults in the study, though past-year, past-month, and daily drinking have been decreasing over the past decade. Binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks) rebounded in 2021 from a historic low in 2020, during the early stages of COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, high-intensity drinking (having 10 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks) has been steadily increasing over the past decade and in 2021 reached its highest level ever recorded since first measured in 2005. ..."

Annual US drug survey finds use of psychedelics at a record high

Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all-time high in 2021 NIH-supported study also found past-month vaping levels rebound after early pandemic drop.

No comments: