2024 Trend Report

Written By Rachel Morris

The 2024 Monitoring The Future Survey Results are here! The Monitoring The Future Survey is a national survey delivered on an annual basis to students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grade to help identify current substance use behaviors and trends. This survey, among others such as, the National Youth Tobacco Survey, and National Survey on Drug Use and Health, provides valuable insight into not only current behaviors, but perceptions of harm, disapproval of use, and so much more. Keep reading to discover the current trends around youth substance use.

Tobacco Use: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2024

  • 2.3 million students reported current use of all tobacco products. This is the lowest recorded level of tobacco use among youth that we’ve seen in 25 years! 

  • Despite seeing a decline in use, E-cigarettes continue to be the most commonly used tobacco product.

  • More than 8 out of 10 current e-cigarette users (87.6%) used flavored e-cigarettes, with fruit flavors being the most popular, followed by candy, desserts, or other sweets; mint; and menthol.

  • More than 1 in 4 (26.3%) of current youth e-cigarette users use an e-cigarette product daily.

Cannabis Use: Monitoring the Future, 2024, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2023

  • Reported use of Delta-8-THC among 12th graders remained stable with 12.3% reporting use within the past 12 months.

  • 5.6% of eighth graders, 11.6% of 10th graders, and 17.6% of 12th graders reported vaping cannabis within the past 12 months, reflecting a stable trend among all three grades.

  • In 2023, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug, with 21.8% of people aged 12 or older (or 61.8 million people) using it in the past year. (NSDUH, 2023)

  • The percentage was highest among young adults aged 18 to 25 (36.5% or 12.4 million people), followed by adults aged 26 or older (20.8% or 46.5 million people), then by adolescents aged 12 to 17 (11.2% or 2.9 million people). (NSDUH, 2023)

Alcohol Use:  Monitoring the Future, 2024

  • Alcohol use remained stable for eighth graders, with 12.9% reporting use in the past 12 months. Alcohol use declined among the other two grades surveyed, with 26.1% of 10th graders reporting alcohol use in the past 12 months (compared to 30.6% in 2023), and 41.7% of 12th graders reporting alcohol use in the past 12 months (compared to 45.7% in 2023). 

Additional Findings: 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

  • The percentage of 12th grade students who used any prescription drug without a doctor’s orders was at the lowest level recorded by the survey in 2024 for lifetime, past 12-month, and past 30-day use. These levels were, respectively, 7%, 3%, and 2%.

  • Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 in 2023, 18.1% (or 4.5 million people) had a past year major depressive episode (MDE), and 13.5% (or 3.4 million people) had a past year MDE with severe impairment.

  • Adolescents aged 12 to 17 in 2023 with a past year MDE were more likely than those without a past year MDE to have used most illicit drugs in the past year. An estimated 28.4% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 with a past year MDE used illicit drugs in the past year compared with 11.6% of those without a past year MD.

Rachel Morris
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