Smoking by teens has declined
to record-low levels, according to the latest University of Michigan annual
Monitoring the Future Study, which examines youth tobacco, alcohol and drug use
in 2012 (data tables here). The figure
at left, which shows the percentage of high school seniors using alcohol,
marijuana, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days over the period
1975-2012, is highly informative.
Cigarette use continued a
long-term decline, reaching 17%, the lowest prevalence since the survey’s introduction
in 1975. Cigarette use was lower than
marijuana use (23%) for the fourth consecutive year. Smokeless tobacco use among boys declined for
the third consecutive year to 13.5%; use among girls was 1.6%.
As I noted in 2009, (here), anti-tobacco forces have a brilliant strategy for
dealing with tobacco use research: If it’s good, take credit; if it’s bad,
blame the industry. In a press release,
the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids did a little of both. It implied that the gains were attributable
to FDA regulation and tax increases, but it claimed that “…the tobacco industry
still spends $8.5 billion a year — nearly $1 million every hour — to market its
deadly and addictive products …that entice youth.”
If the tobacco industry is
responsible for youth smoking, which industry is responsible for marijuana use?
For high school seniors,
alcohol is by far the drug of choice. While
alcohol prevalence declined substantially from over 70% around 1980, it remains
far too high. In 2012, more than 40% of
high school seniors had an alcoholic drink in the past 30 days; 28% of them had
been drunk. This is astounding, given
that the legal age to consume alcohol is 21 years. It is especially worrisome when considering
how many teens and young adults die in auto accidents. With the exception of the elderly, this age
group (15-24 years) has by far the highest death rates from auto accidents. It comprises 14% of the U.S. population but
accounts for 27% of auto deaths (2,498 in 2009).
Any use of drugs among
children is a problem that should concern every American. We need to better
understand the social and behavioral reasons why children experiment with and
adopt substance use, in order to develop prevention strategies. But we need to prioritize limited resources based
on the relative impact of each substance on children’s health. Cigarettes and
smokeless tobacco should not be ignored, but the MTF survey documents that
alcohol is the major threat.
1 comment:
Your comments about alcohol are interesting. I'm guessing high school seniors are aged 17-18. Here in the UK, the legal drinking age is 18, and there is similar cocern about binge drinking among the young - which is now falling. 28% drunk in the last 30 days seems very high. Perhaps the legal age of 21 is too high? It's unrealistic to expect a twenty year old not to consume alcohol. Back in 1982 in Colorado, 18 year olds were allowed so called "3.2 beer" (3.6% ABV). I vaguely recall the drinking age there is now 21. Is all the USA now 21 and, if not, is drunkenness less prevalent in areas where it is?
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