Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 49, Chart 1
SOURCE: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future, various years.
The percentage of seniors who reported having ever used illicit drugs increased from 1975 to 1980, but declined from 65 percent to 41 percent between 1980 and 1992. The proportion then rose to 46 percent in 1994. The proportion of seniors reporting drug use in the previous 30 days declined from 37 percent in 1980 to 14 percent in 1992, before rising to 22 percent in 1994. The proportion using alcohol in the previous 30 days declined from 72 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 1994. Student use of cigarettes slowly declined between 1975 and 1992, but then rose slightly. Marijuana/hashish remains the most frequently used illicit drug by a wide margin, but those reporting ever having used it declined from 60 percent of students in 1980 to 33 percent in 1992 but rose to 38 percent in 1994.
