Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs, according to the Monitoring the Future panel study.
The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The report, which was released Monday, found a spike of usage in hallucinogens for those aged 19 to 30 years old, a record set for this age group since 1988.
Rates of past-month nicotine vaping, which have been gradually increasing in young adults for the past four years, also continued their general upward trend in 2021, despite leveling off in 2020. Past-month marijuana vaping, which had significantly decreased in 2020, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, researchers noted.
Alcohol remains the most-used substance among adults in the study, though past-year, past-month and daily drinking have been decreasing over the past decade. Binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks) rebounded in 2021 from a historic low in 2020, during the early stages of COVID-19 pandemic.
However, high-intensity drinking (having 10 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks) has been steadily increasing over the past decade and in 2021, reached its highest level ever recorded since first measured in 2005.
"One of the best ways we can learn more about drug use and its impact on people is to observe which drugs are appearing, in which populations, for how long and under which contexts," said Megan Patrick, Industry Standards Research professor and principal investigator of the MTF panel study.
She said similar surveys on a consistent sample population allows researchers to assess the effects of "natural experiments" like the pandemic to examine how and why drugs are used and highlight critical areas to guide where research should go next.
Since 1975, the Monitoring the Future study has annually surveyed substance use behaviors and attitudes among a nationally representative sample of teens. It also conducts follow-up surveys on a subset of these participants to track their drug use through adulthood. Participants self-report their drug use behaviors across three primary time periods: lifetime, past year and past month.
Data for last year's survey were collected online from April to October 2021.
Key findings
Marijuana use: Key findings for the young adult group included that 29% of young adults reported marijuana usage in the past month during 2021, compared to 21% in 2016 and 17% in 2011.
Daily marijuana use also significantly increased, reported by 11% of young adults in 2021, a significant increase from 8% in 2016 and 6% in 2011.
Hallucinogen use: Researchers say hallucinogen use had been relatively stable over the past few decades until 2020, when reports of use started to increase dramatically.
In 2021, 8% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, representing an all-time high since the category was first surveyed in 1988. In comparison, in 2016, 5% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, and in 2011, only 3% reported use.
Types of hallucinogens reported by participants included LSD, MDMA, mescaline, peyote, "shrooms" or psilocybin, and PCP. The only hallucinogen measured that significantly decreased in use was MDMA (also called ecstasy or molly), showing statistically significant decreases within one year as well as the past five years — from 5% in both 2016 and 2020 to 3% in 2021.
Nicotine vaping: Those who reported nicotine vaping in the past month increased significantly among young adults in 2021, despite leveling off in 2020 during the earlier part of the pandemic. Researchers said it reflects a general long-term upward trend: In 2021, nicotine vaping prevalence nearly tripled to 16%, compared to 6% in 2017 when the behavior was first recorded.
Marijuana vaping: The study showed that marijuana vaping significantly dipped in 2020 but returned to near pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Since 2017, when marijuana vaping was included in the study, past-month prevalence has doubled — from 6% in 2017 to 12% in 2021.
Binge drinking: Reports of binge drinking by young adults returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 after significantly decreasing in 2020 (32% reported in 2021 verses 28% in 2020 and 32% in 2019).
However, past-month and past-year alcohol use and daily drinking have been on a downward trend in young adults for the past 10 years. For example, in 2021, 66% of young adults reported alcohol use in the past 30 days, a significant decline from 70% recorded in 2016 and 69% in 2011.
Cigarettes: The survey also showed significant decreases in past-month cigarette smoking by young adults and nonmedical use of opioid medications in the past year (surveyed as "narcotics other than heroin") compared to 10 years ago. Both substances have been declining steadily in use for the past decade.
Additional data from the 2021 MTF panel study include drug use reported by adults 35 to 50 years old, college/noncollege young adults, and among various demographic subgroups.
Results for the upcoming study will be released in December.
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