Digest of Education Statistics
2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 232.90. Percentage of high school seniors reporting use of alcohol and illicit drugs, by frequency of use and substance used: Selected years, 1975 through 2015
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Frequency of use and substance used 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Ever used                                                        
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) 75.1 (0.81) 72.3 (0.85) 71.0 (0.84) 70.0 (0.88) 69.4 (0.90) 68.2 (0.95) 66.0 (0.95) 64.0 (0.94)
                                                         
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) 50.4 (1.35) 46.7 (1.36) 48.2 (1.33) 49.9 (1.38) 49.1 (1.40) 49.8 (1.46) 49.1 (1.43) 48.9 (1.40)
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) 23.0 (1.14) 22.7 (1.15) 23.5 (1.13) 25.0 (1.19) 25.0 (1.21) 25.0 (1.26) 26.5 (1.27) 27.8 (1.25)
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) 27.4 (0.99) 24.0 (0.96) 24.7 (0.94) 24.9 (0.98) 24.1 (0.98) 24.8 (1.03) 22.6 (0.98) 21.1 (0.94)
                                                         
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) 8.0 (0.56) 6.0 (0.49) 5.5 (0.46) 5.2 (0.47) 4.9 (0.46) 4.5 (0.46) 4.6 (0.46) 4.0 (0.42)
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) 1.2 (0.13) 1.6 (0.14) 1.4 (0.14) 1.1 (0.13) 1.0 (0.13) 1.0 (0.12) 0.8 (0.11)
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) 3.5 (0.38) 3.1 (0.36) 4.0 (0.40) 4.0 (0.41) 3.8 (0.41) 3.9 (0.43) 3.7 (0.41) 4.3 (0.43)
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) 44.8 (1.34) 42.0 (1.35) 43.8 (1.32) 45.5 (1.37) 45.2 (1.39) 45.5 (1.45) 44.4 (1.43) 44.7 (1.39)
PCP (†) 9.6 (0.33) 4.9 (0.24) 2.8 (0.19) 2.7 (0.18) 3.4 (0.23) 2.4 (0.18) 1.7 (0.15) 1.8 (0.15) 2.3 (0.18) 1.6 (0.15) 1.3 (0.14) (†) (†)
                                                         
Used during 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) 68.6 (0.87) 66.2 (0.90) 65.2 (0.88) 63.5 (0.92) 63.5 (0.94) 62.0 (0.99) 60.2 (0.98) 58.2 (0.96)
                                                         
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) 38.4 (1.28) 36.5 (1.29) 38.3 (1.26) 40.0 (1.32) 39.7 (1.34) 40.1 (1.39) 38.7 (1.36) 38.6 (1.33)
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) 18.8 (1.03) 19.5 (1.06) 21.0 (1.06) 22.4 (1.12) 22.7 (1.14) 22.3 (1.18) 22.8 (1.18) 23.4 (1.16)
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) 19.7 (0.83) 17.0 (0.79) 17.3 (0.78) 17.6 (0.81) 17.0 (0.81) 17.8 (0.86) 15.9 (0.81) 15.2 (0.78)
                                                         
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) 5.1 (0.40) 3.4 (0.34) 2.9 (0.30) 2.9 (0.31) 2.7 (0.31) 2.6 (0.31) 2.6 (0.31) 2.5 (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) 0.7 (0.09) 0.9 (0.09) 0.8 (0.09) 0.6 (0.08) 0.6 (0.08) 0.6 (0.08) 0.5 (0.07)
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) 1.8 (0.24) 1.9 (0.25) 2.6 (0.29) 2.7 (0.30) 2.4 (0.29) 2.2 (0.29) 2.5 (0.30) 2.9 (0.32)
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) 33.6 (1.24) 32.8 (1.25) 34.8 (1.24) 36.4 (1.29) 36.4 (1.31) 36.4 (1.37) 35.1 (1.34) 34.9 (1.30)
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) 1.0 (0.10) 1.0 (0.10) 1.3 (0.12) 0.9 (0.10) 0.7 (0.09) 0.8 (0.10) 1.4 (0.12)
                                                         
Used during 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) 47.0 (0.94) 43.5 (0.95) 41.2 (0.91) 40.0 (0.94) 41.5 (0.96) 39.2 (0.99) 37.4 (0.97) 35.3 (0.93)
                                                         
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) 23.1 (0.99) 23.3 (1.01) 23.8 (0.99) 25.2 (1.04) 25.2 (1.06) 25.2 (1.10) 23.7 (1.06) 23.6 (1.03)
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) 12.8 (0.78) 14.7 (0.84) 15.2 (0.83) 16.3 (0.89) 16.8 (0.91) 17.0 (0.95) 16.0 (0.92) 16.0 (0.89)
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) 10.3 (0.54) 8.6 (0.50) 8.6 (0.49) 8.9 (0.51) 8.4 (0.51) 8.2 (0.52) 7.7 (0.50) 7.6 (0.49)
                                                         
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) 2.3 (0.22) 1.3 (0.17) 1.3 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16) 1.1 (0.17) 1.0 (0.16) 1.1 (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) 0.5 (0.07) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.06) 0.4 (0.07) 0.3 (0.06) 0.3 (0.06) 0.4 (0.07) 0.3 (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) 0.7 (0.12) 0.5 (0.11) 0.8 (0.13) 0.8 (0.13) 0.8 (0.14) 0.8 (0.14) 1.0 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16)
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) 19.8 (0.94) 20.6 (0.96) 21.4 (0.95) 22.6 (1.00) 22.9 (1.02) 22.7 (1.06) 21.2 (1.02) 21.3 (1.00)
PCP (†) 1.4 (0.11) 1.6 (0.12) 0.4 (0.06) 0.6 (0.08) 0.9 (0.10) 0.7 (0.08) 0.5 (0.07) 0.8 (0.09) 0.8 (0.09) 0.5 (0.07) 0.4 (0.07) (†) (†)
—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 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 2015, retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://monitoringthefuture.org/data/data.html. (This table was prepared February 2016.)

2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest