Public Health

Lower Rates of Cigarette and Marijuana Smoking Among Exercising Teens

Teens who exercise regularly are less likely than less active peers to have smoked cigarettes daily or to have abused marijuana in the past month. This pattern has persisted over the past decade, according to an annual survey of the nation's high school students. Source An analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from the Monitoring the Future Survey, by Dr. Lloyd Johnston, University of Michigan.

Smoking and Drinking Continue to Decline, But Marijuana Stalls in Latest MTF Survey

In the latest Monitoring the Future survey of teenage substance abuse, cigarette smoking and alcohol use have declined to the lowest levels in 2 decades, but marijuana abuse—which had dropped steadily since the mid-1990s—appears to have stopped falling. About 15 percent of students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades had abused one or more illicit drugs in the month prior to answering the 2008 edition of the annual survey. The rate is similar to that of 2007, but 25 percent lower than in 2001. In all cases, the higher the grade, the greater the prevalence of illicit drug abuse. The past-month

United States Ranks First in Lifetime Use of Three Drugs

The proportion of people in the United States who have used cocaine at some time during their lives is higher—by a factor of four—than in 16 other nations surveyed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The United States also leads in lifetime use of cannabis and tobacco. NIDA scientists suggest that the high U.S. rates are, in part, artifacts of drug epidemics of the 1970s and 1980s, and they note that U.S. drug use rates are now lower. Between 2001 and 2006, WHO researchers asked 54,069 people about their lifetime exposure to cocaine, cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol. The survey is the first

Most People Entering Drug Treatment Have Additional Mental Health Problems

In 77 studies that included 4,930 adolescents and 1,956 adults, two-thirds of patients entering substance abuse treatment programs reported at least one co-occurring mental health problem during the previous year. Attention deficit and conduct disorders were more common in young patients, anxiety and depression in older patients. Source Chan, Y.F., Dennis, M.L., and Funk, R.L. Prevalence and comorbidity of major internalizing and externalizing problems among adolescents and adults presenting to substance abuse treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 34(1):14-24, 2008. [Abstract]

Teens With Unhealthy Weight-Control Behavior Are More Likely to Abuse Drugs

High school students who attempt to control weight by engaging in unhealthy behaviors - fasting, purging, or using diet aids without a doctor's advice - are also more likely to have substance abuse problems. Only lifetime marijuana use in girls was lower among those who engaged in unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Among the 13,917 teens who participated in the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 20 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys reported unhealthy weight-control behaviors during the past month. Source: Pisetsky, E.M. et al. Disordered eating and substance use in high

Substance Abuse and Sexual Risk Show Town-Gown Divide

Two recent studies found differences in behavior between young adults attending college and their peers. Dr. Carlos Blanco of Columbia University in New York and colleagues report that in 2001-2002, one fifth of the Nation's college students had met the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse disorder within the past 12 months, compared with 17 percent of their noncollege peers. In contrast, drug and nicotine dependencies were more common among nonstudents (7 percent versus 5 percent; 21 percent versus 15 percent). The researchers based their estimates on data from the National

Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Holds at Lowest Recorded Levels

Cigarette smoking among adolescents in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades has remained at the lowest levels recorded by the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey since its inception 35 years ago. However, adolescents' use of smokeless tobacco increased significantly, to levels not seen since 2001. The 2009 MTF survey also found that use of illicit drugs, including marijuana, had not changed significantly since 2008. This adds to earlier evidence that the downward trend in teen marijuana use evident from the late 1990s through 2007 has stalled. The prevalence of past-month cigarette smoking was 12.7

Some Teens Reporting Nonmedical Use of Prescriptions Develop Disorders

Dr. Li-Tzy Wu and colleagues at Duke University and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found that 1 percent of the 36,992 respondents age 12 to 17 to the 2006-2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) met the criteria for a diagnosis of abuse or dependence on opioid analgesics, which are prescription pain relievers. The teens reported one or more abuse symptoms—such as interference with school and home life, exposure to physical danger, and problems with family and friends—resulting from the nonprescribed use of these pain relievers; or they reported symptoms of

Injection Drug Users Acquire Hepatitis C Infection Later in Developed Countries

The typical time from onset of injection drug use to infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in developed countries has lengthened, according to a recent analysis. In the decade 1985 to 1995, nearly 70 percent of injection drug users acquired the virus within 5 years of starting to inject, and about 90 percent were infected after 15 years. In the following decade, only 50 percent were infected 5 years after their initial injections, and less than 85 percent at 15 years. This lengthening time to infection corresponds with the expansion of prevention efforts in developed countries, suggesting

Drug Abuse at Highest Level in Nearly a Decade

Illicit drug use in the United States has risen to its highest level in 8 years, according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Last year, 8.7 percent of Americans aged 12 and older—an estimated 21.8 million people—said they used illicit drugs in the month prior to the survey, which represents a 9 percent increase over the 2008 rate. The rise was driven largely by an increase in the use of marijuana, which rose to 6.6 percent in 2009 after holding steady at around 6 percent since 2002. The increase was particularly high among youth aged 12 to 17 and young adults aged 18

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