Drug & Alcohol Use Among Young Adults: 2020 Monitoring the Future Survey Results
The annual NIH-supported survey revealed changing substance use trends among college students and college-aged adults. Find key results for primary care in our quick slideshow.
The annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has tracked substance use and related factors among US adolescents, college students, and adult high school graduates for several decades. It is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and conducted by the University of Michigan. The 2020 MTF results were recently released, and revealed just how much the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted substance use among college-aged Americans in particular.
Data was collected online from 1550 college and noncollege youth aged 19-22 years between March 20, 2020 and November 30, 2020. Key findings include historically high levels of marijuana use, rise in hallucinogen use, and declines in alcohol consumption among young adults. More information in the slides below.
MARIJUANA USE. Annual marijuana use rose significantly among college students and remained historically high for youth not attending college.
VAPING MARIJUANA. The 30-day prevalence of vaping marijuana more than doubled between 2017 and 2019 among college students and noncollege youth alike but increases leveled off in 2020.
HALLUCINOGEN USE. Annual use of hallucinogens (eg, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms) significantly increased among college students between 2019-2020.
ALCOHOL USE BY COLLEGE STUDENTS. Rates of alcohol use reported by college students were significantly lower in 2020 with 56% reporting 30-day alcohol use in 2020 vs 62% in 2019.
ALCOHOL USE BY NONCOLLEGE YOUTH. Trends in 30-day alcohol use and 30-day been drunk measures remained level among noncollege youth between 2015-2020, with no decline between 2019-2020.
CIGARETTE SMOKING. 30-day cigarette smoking reached new all-time low of 4.1% in 2020 for college students (3.8 percentage point decline from 2019); also reached new all-time low for noncollege youth at 13%.
PRESCRIPTION OPIOID MISUSE. Prescription opioid misuse decreased for college and noncollege respondents, with significant 5-year declines in annual use for both groups.
