Fewer Teens Using Cigarettes and Alcohol!

The 2015 Monitoring the Future survey finds cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption continues to decline among teens. Among 10th graders, researchers observed a 54.9% reduction in cigarette use in just the past five years. The rate of binge drinking (described as having five or more drinks in a row within the past two weeks) among high school seniors fell from 31.5% in 1998 to 17.4% this past year and just over a third of seniors have been drunk in the past year compared with more than half in 2001. National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli writes, “This year’s Monitoring the Future data continue the promising trends from last year with declining rates of adolescent substance use, and support the value of evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery… I encourage parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors to have a conversation with the young people in their lives about making the healthy decisions that will keep them on a path toward a successful future.” National Institutes of Health, December 2015