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Digest of Education Statistics
2011 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 174. Percentage of high school seniors reporting drug use, by type of drug and reporting period: Selected years, 1975 through 2010
Type of drug Class of 1975 Class of 1980 Class of 1985 Class of 1990 Class of 1995 Class of 2000 Class of 2003 Class of 2004 Class of 2005 Class of 2006 Class of 2007 Class of 2008 Class of 2009 Class of 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
  Percent reporting having ever used drugs
Alcohol1 90.4 (0.69) 93.2 (0.46) 92.2 (0.48) 89.5 (0.57) 80.7 (0.73) 80.3 (0.80) 76.6 (0.80) 76.8 (0.80) 75.1 (0.81) 72.7 (0.85) 72.2 (0.83) 71.9 (0.85) 72.3 (0.85) 71.0 (0.84)
                                                         
Any illicit drug 55.2 (1.68) 65.4 (1.23) 60.6 (1.26) 47.9 (1.33) 48.4 (1.32) 54.0 (1.44) 51.1 (1.35) 51.1 (1.35) 50.4 (1.35) 48.2 (1.37) 46.8 (1.33) 47.4 (1.35) 46.7 (1.36) 48.2 (1.33)
Marijuana only 19.0 (1.32) 26.7 (1.15) 20.9 (1.05) 18.5 (1.03) 20.3 (1.06) 25.0 (1.25) 23.4 (1.15) 22.4 (1.13) 23.0 (1.14) 21.3 (1.12) 21.3 (1.09) 22.5 (1.13) 22.7 (1.15) 23.5 (1.13)
Any illicit drug other
     than marijuana2
36.2 (1.33) 38.7 (1.04) 39.7 (1.04) 29.4 (0.99) 28.1 (0.97) 29.0 (1.08) 27.7 (0.99) 28.7 (1.00) 27.4 (0.99) 26.9 (1.00) 25.5 (0.95) 24.9 (0.96) 24.0 (0.96) 24.7 (0.94)
                                                         
Use of selected drugs                                                        
Cocaine 9.0 (0.73) 15.7 (0.72) 17.3 (0.74) 9.4 (0.59) 6.0 (0.48) 8.6 (0.62) 7.7 (0.55) 8.1 (0.56) 8.0 (0.56) 8.5 (0.58) 7.8 (0.54) 7.2 (0.53) 6.0 (0.49) 5.5 (0.46)
Heroin 2.2 (0.21) 1.1 (0.12) 1.2 (0.12) 1.3 (0.13) 1.6 (0.14) 2.4 (0.19) 1.5 (0.14) 1.5 (0.14) 1.5 (0.14) 1.4 (0.14) 1.5 (0.14) 1.3 (0.13) 1.2 (0.13) 1.6 (0.14)
LSD 11.3 (0.81) 9.3 (0.57) 7.5 (0.52) 8.7 (0.57) 11.7 (0.64) 11.1 (0.69) 5.9 (0.49) 4.6 (0.43) 3.5 (0.38) 3.3 (0.37) 3.4 (0.37) 4.0 (0.40) 3.1 (0.36) 4.0 (0.40)
Marijuana/hashish 47.3 (1.68) 60.3 (1.27) 54.2 (1.83) 40.7 (1.30) 41.7 (1.30) 48.8 (1.45) 46.1 (1.35) 45.7 (1.35) 44.8 (1.34) 42.3 (1.36) 41.8 (1.31) 42.6 (1.34) 42.0 (1.35) 43.8 (1.32)
PCP (†) 9.6 (0.33) 4.9 (0.24) 2.8 (0.19) 2.7 (0.18) 3.4 (0.23) 2.5 (0.18) 1.6 (0.15) 2.4 (0.18) 2.2 (0.17) 2.1 (0.17) 1.8 (0.16) 1.7 (0.15) 1.8 (0.15)
  Percent reporting use of drugs in the past 12 months
Alcohol1 84.8 (0.84) 87.9 (0.59) 85.6 (0.63) 80.6 (0.73) 73.7 (0.81) 73.2 (0.89) 70.1 (0.86) 70.6 (0.86) 68.6 (0.87) 66.5 (0.90) 66.4 (0.88) 65.5 (0.90) 66.2 (0.90) 65.2 (0.88)
                                                         
Any illicit drug 45.0 (1.64) 53.1 (1.26) 46.3 (1.26) 32.5 (1.21) 39.0 (1.26) 40.9 (1.39) 39.3 (1.29) 38.8 (1.29) 38.4 (1.28) 36.5 (1.29) 35.9 (1.25) 36.6 (1.27) 36.5 (1.29) 38.3 (1.26)
Marijuana only 18.8 (1.29) 22.7 (1.06) 18.9 (0.99) 14.6 (0.91) 19.6 (1.02) 20.5 (1.14) 19.5 (1.05) 18.3 (1.02) 18.8 (1.03) 17.3 (1.01) 17.4 (0.99) 18.3 (1.02) 19.5 (1.06) 21.0 (1.06)
Any illicit drug other
     than marijuana2
26.2 (1.15) 30.4 (0.92) 27.4 (0.89) 17.9 (0.79) 19.4 (0.81) 20.4 (0.90) 19.8 (0.83) 20.5 (0.85) 19.7 (0.83) 19.2 (0.84) 18.5 (0.80) 18.3 (0.81) 17.0 (0.79) 17.3 (0.78)
                                                         
Use of selected drugs                                                        
Cocaine 5.6 (0.52) 12.3 (0.58) 13.1 (0.59) 5.3 (0.40) 4.0 (0.35) 5.0 (0.43) 4.8 (0.39) 5.3 (0.41) 5.1 (0.40) 5.7 (0.43) 5.2 (0.40) 4.4 (0.38) 3.4 (0.34) 2.9 (0.30)
Heroin 1.0 (0.13) 0.5 (0.07) 0.6 (0.07) 0.5 (0.07) 1.1 (0.10) 1.5 (0.13) 0.8 (0.09) 0.9 (0.10) 0.8 (0.09) 0.8 (0.09) 0.9 (0.09) 0.7 (0.08) 0.7 (0.09) 0.9 (0.09)
LSD 7.2 (0.59) 6.5 (0.43) 4.4 (0.36) 5.4 (0.41) 8.4 (0.49) 6.6 (0.49) 1.9 (0.25) 2.2 (0.27) 1.8 (0.24) 1.7 (0.24) 2.1 (0.26) 2.7 (0.30) 1.9 (0.25) 2.6 (0.29)
Marijuana/hashish 40.0 (1.61) 48.8 (1.27) 40.6 (1.24) 27.0 (1.15) 34.7 (1.23) 36.5 (1.36) 34.9 (1.26) 34.3 (1.25) 33.6 (1.24) 31.5 (1.24) 31.7 (1.21) 32.4 (1.24) 32.8 (1.25) 34.8 (1.24)
PCP (†) 4.4 (0.20) 2.9 (0.16) 1.2 (0.11) 1.8 (0.13) 2.3 (0.16) 1.3 (0.11) 0.7 (0.08) 1.3 (0.11) 0.7 (0.09) 0.9 (0.09) 1.1 (0.11) 1.0 (0.10) 1.0 (0.10)
  Percent reporting use of drugs in the past 30 days
Alcohol1 68.2 (1.10) 72.0 (0.81) 65.9 (0.85) 57.1 (0.92) 51.3 (0.92) 50.0 (1.01) 47.5 (0.94) 48.0 (0.94) 47.0 (0.94) 45.3 (0.95) 44.4 (0.92) 43.1 (0.93) 43.5 (0.95) 41.2 (0.91)
                                                         
Any illicit drug 30.7 (1.35) 37.2 (1.09) 29.7 (1.03) 17.2 (0.87) 23.8 (0.98) 24.9 (1.09) 24.1 (1.01) 23.4 (1.00) 23.1 (0.99) 21.5 (0.98) 21.9 (0.96) 22.3 (0.98) 23.3 (1.01) 23.8 (0.99)
Marijuana only 15.3 (1.06) 18.8 (0.88) 14.8 (0.80) 9.2 (0.67) 13.8 (0.79) 14.5 (0.89) 19.5 (0.93) 18.3 (0.91) 12.8 (0.78) 11.7 (0.77) 12.4 (0.76) 13.0 (0.79) 14.7 (0.84) 15.2 (0.83)
Any illicit drug other
     than marijuana2
15.4 (0.80) 18.4 (0.66) 14.9 (0.60) 8.0 (0.47) 10.0 (0.52) 10.4 (0.58) 10.4 (0.54) 10.8 (0.55) 10.3 (0.54) 9.8 (0.54) 9.5 (0.51) 9.3 (0.52) 8.6 (0.50) 8.6 (0.49)
                                                         
Use of selected drugs                                                        
Cocaine 1.9 (0.25) 5.2 (0.31) 6.7 (0.35) 1.9 (0.20) 1.8 (0.19) 2.1 (0.23) 2.1 (0.21) 2.3 (0.22) 2.3 (0.22) 2.5 (0.23) 2.0 (0.20) 1.9 (0.20) 1.3 (0.17) 1.3 (0.16)
Heroin 0.4 (0.08) 0.2 (0.04) 0.3 (0.05) 0.2 (0.04) 0.6 (0.08) 0.7 (0.09) 0.4 (0.06) 0.5 (0.07) 0.5 (0.07) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.06)
LSD 2.3 (0.28) 2.3 (0.21) 1.6 (0.18) 1.9 (0.20) 4.0 (0.28) 1.6 (0.20) 0.6 (0.11) 0.7 (0.12) 0.7 (0.12) 0.6 (0.12) 0.6 (0.11) 1.1 (0.15) 0.5 (0.11) 0.8 (0.13)
Marijuana/hashish 27.1 (1.30) 33.7 (1.07) 25.7 (0.98) 14.0 (0.80) 21.2 (0.94) 21.6 (1.04) 21.2 (0.96) 19.9 (0.94) 19.8 (0.94) 18.3 (0.92) 18.8 (0.90) 19.4 (0.93) 20.6 (0.96) 21.4 (0.95)
PCP (†) 1.4 (0.11) 1.6 (0.12) 0.4 (0.06) 0.6 (0.08) 0.9 (0.10) 0.6 (0.08) 0.4 (0.06) 0.7 (0.08) 0.4 (0.06) 0.5 (0.07) 0.6 (0.08) 0.5 (0.07) 0.8 (0.09)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
1 Survey question changed in 1993; later data are not comparable to figures for earlier years.
2 Other illicit drugs include any use of LSD or other hallucinogens, crack or other cocaine, or heroin, or any use of other narcotics, amphetamines, barbiturates, or tranquilizers not under a doctor's orders.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses. Standard errors were calculated from formulas to perform trend analysis over an interval greater than 1 year (for example, a comparison between 1975 and 1990). A revised questionnaire was used in 1982 and later years to reduce the inappropriate reporting of nonprescription stimulants. This slightly reduced the positive responses for some types of drug abuse.
SOURCE: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future, selected years, 1975 through 2010, retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://monitoringthefuture.org/data/10data.html#2010data-drugs. (This table was prepared May 2011.)

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