Digest of Education Statistics
2017 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 2017
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Frequency of use and substance used 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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) 71.0 (0.84) 69.4 (0.90) 68.2 (0.95) 66.0 (0.95) 64.0 (0.94) 61.2 (0.99) 61.5 (0.95)
                                                         
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) 48.2 (1.33) 49.1 (1.40) 49.8 (1.46) 49.1 (1.43) 48.9 (1.40) 48.3 (1.46) 48.9 (1.41)
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) 23.5 (1.13) 25.0 (1.21) 25.0 (1.26) 26.5 (1.27) 27.8 (1.25) 27.6 (1.30) 29.4 (1.28)
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) 24.7 (0.94) 24.1 (0.98) 24.8 (1.03) 22.6 (0.98) 21.1 (0.94) 20.7 (0.97) 19.5 (0.91)
                                                         
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) 5.5 (0.46) 4.9 (0.46) 4.5 (0.46) 4.6 (0.46) 4.0 (0.42) 3.7 (0.42) 4.2 (0.44)
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) 1.6 (0.14) 1.1 (0.13) 1.0 (0.13) 1.0 (0.12) 0.8 (0.11) 0.7 (0.11) 0.7 (0.10)
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) 4.0 (0.40) 3.8 (0.41) 3.9 (0.43) 3.7 (0.41) 4.3 (0.43) 4.9 (0.48) 5.0 (0.48)
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) 43.8 (1.32) 45.2 (1.39) 45.5 (1.45) 44.4 (1.43) 44.7 (1.39) 44.5 (1.45) 45.0 (1.40)
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) 1.8 (0.15) 1.6 (0.15) 1.3 (0.14) (†) (†) (†) (†)
Prescription drugs3 (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 24.0 (0.77) 21.6 (0.73) 21.2 (0.77) 22.2 (0.81) 19.9 (0.77) 18.3 (0.72) 18.0 (0.75) 16.5 (0.70)
                                                         
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) 65.2 (0.88) 63.5 (0.94) 62.0 (0.99) 60.2 (0.98) 58.2 (0.96) 55.6 (1.01) 55.7 (0.97)
                                                         
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) 38.3 (1.26) 39.7 (1.34) 40.1 (1.39) 38.7 (1.36) 38.6 (1.33) 38.3 (1.38) 39.9 (1.35)
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) 21.0 (1.06) 22.7 (1.14) 22.3 (1.18) 22.8 (1.18) 23.4 (1.16) 24.0 (1.22) 26.6 (1.21)
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) 17.3 (0.78) 17.0 (0.81) 17.8 (0.86) 15.9 (0.81) 15.2 (0.78) 14.3 (0.79) 13.3 (0.74)
                                                         
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) 2.9 (0.30) 2.7 (0.31) 2.6 (0.31) 2.6 (0.31) 2.5 (0.30) 2.3 (0.30) 2.7 (0.31)
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 (0.09) 0.6 (0.08) 0.6 (0.08) 0.6 (0.08) 0.5 (0.07) 0.3 (0.06) 0.4 (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) 2.6 (0.29) 2.4 (0.29) 2.2 (0.29) 2.5 (0.30) 2.9 (0.32) 3.0 (0.34) 3.3 (0.34)
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) 34.8 (1.24) 36.4 (1.31) 36.4 (1.37) 35.1 (1.34) 34.9 (1.30) 35.6 (1.36) 37.1 (1.33)
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) 0.9 (0.10) 0.7 (0.09) 0.8 (0.10) 1.4 (0.12) 1.3 (0.20) 1.0 (0.10)
Prescription drugs3 (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 17.1 (0.62) 15.0 (0.58) 14.8 (0.61) 15.9 (0.65) 13.9 (0.61) 12.9 (0.57) 12.0 (0.35) 10.9 (0.54)
                                                         
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) 41.2 (0.91) 41.5 (0.96) 39.2 (0.99) 37.4 (0.97) 35.3 (0.93) 33.2 (0.96) 33.2 (0.92)
                                                         
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) 23.8 (0.99) 25.2 (1.06) 25.2 (1.10) 23.7 (1.06) 23.6 (1.03) 24.4 (1.09) 24.9 (1.06)
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) 15.2 (0.83) 16.8 (0.91) 17.0 (0.95) 16.0 (0.92) 16.0 (0.89) 17.5 (0.96) 18.6 (0.95)
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 (0.49) 8.4 (0.51) 8.2 (0.52) 7.7 (0.50) 7.6 (0.49) 6.9 (0.48) 6.3 (0.45)
                                                         
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 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16) 1.1 (0.17) 1.0 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16) 0.9 (0.15) 1.2 (0.17)
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) 0.3 (0.06) 0.3 (0.06) 0.4 (0.07) 0.3 (0.06) 0.2 (0.05) 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) 0.8 (0.13) 0.8 (0.14) 0.8 (0.14) 1.0 (0.16) 1.1 (0.16) 1.0 (0.16) 1.2 (0.17)
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) 21.4 (0.95) 22.9 (1.02) 22.7 (1.06) 21.2 (1.02) 21.3 (1.00) 22.5 (1.06) 22.9 (1.03)
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) 0.8 (0.09) 0.5 (0.07) 0.4 (0.07) (†) (†) (†) (†)
Prescription drugs3 (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 8.6 (0.36) 6.9 (0.32) 7.0 (0.34) 7.1 (0.35) 6.4 (0.33) 5.9 (0.31) 5.4 (0.31) 4.9 (0.29)
—Not available.
† Not applicable.
1 Survey question changed in 1993; later data are not comparable to figures for earlier years.
2 Includes LSD and other hallucinogens; crack and other cocaine; heroin; and narcotics, amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), and tranquilizers not prescribed by a doctor.
3 Refers to the use of prescription drugs not prescribed by a doctor, including amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers, and narcotics other than heroin. Questionnaire wording regarding amphetamines changed in 2013; data for 2013 and later years are not comparable to figures for earlier years.
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 2017, retrieved March 22, 2018, from http://monitoringthefuture.org/data/data.html. (This table was prepared March 2018.)

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest