According to the "2016 Monitoring the Future" survey claimed that the use of drugs and alcohol among teens are dropping down. The annual survey, which has been conducted since 1975, measures attitudes and substance use among eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders. Overall, 45,473 students from 372 public and private schools participated in this year’s survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Teen Drug And Alcohol Use Are Down, Surveys Claim
As reported by NY Daily News, teen drug use is at its lowest since the ’90s. Students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades reported using illicit drugs (excluding marijuana) in the last 12 months at their lowest rate since 1991, according to the National Institutes of Health’s annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey released Tuesday. Marijuana use, however, remained high among 12th graders. While eighth graders’ pot use did see a significant decrease over the past year, from 6.5% to 5.4%.
Since 1975 the MTF survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month. Overall, 45,473 students from 372 public and private schools participated in this year's survey. The survey is conducted by the University of Michigan.
“This is very, very good news. Clearly our public health prevention efforts, as well as policy changes to reduce availability, are working to reduce teen drug use, especially among eighth graders,” said National Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora Volkow in a statement. Dr. Volkow’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. As a research psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs.
Drugs And Alcohols Effects
“Daily use of any substance, including marijuana, places individuals at high risk for addiction,” said Samuel Ball, president and CEO of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, who also feels encouraged by the results, though he is unsurprised by the general decline. “And this risk is significantly higher for teen users than adult users.”
According to Drug-Free World Foundation, effects of alcohol depends on how much it is taken and the physical condition of an individual. Binge drinking and continued alcohol use in large amounts are associated with many health problems, including liver disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other heart-related diseases.
Drugs are chemical structures that can affect the body in different ways. In fact, some drugs can even change a person's body and brain in ways that last long after the person has stopped taking drugs, maybe even permanently. Depending on the drug, it can enter the human body in a number of ways, including injection, inhalation, and ingestion.
