Young People Are Learning Old Patterns Of Drug Abuse

The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2010 monitoring study of high school and youth trends — an overview of trends in drug use among teenagers in grades 8–12 — raises a number of concerns about increases in drug use among teens, particularly the youngest. And according to NIDA experts, general declines in drug use since mid-1990s have stopped.

The NIDA points out that “generational forgetting” increases abuse among young people as they rediscover drugs they know nothing about. Heroin, crack, PCP, and cocaine have followed that pattern.

Currently LSD, inhalants, and ecstasy use are also increasing as perceived risk for these drugs is low among young people who are unfamiliar with their consequences. Some other facts emerging from the latest study include:

*Many beliefs/attitudes about drugs by young people are drug specific; youth do not generalize the adverse consequences of one drug’s use to other drugs.

*Word about using a new drug usually spreads much faster than information about consequences, especially with social media, etc.

*Abuse of prescription drugs continue to increase, even as use of some illegal drugs leveled or decline since mid-1990s.

*Use of ecstasy had been declining overall, but 2010 saw increases in use of ecstasy among eighth and tenth graders.

*Daily marijuana use increased among eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders from 2009 to 2010.