Cannabis and hallucinogen use remain at ‘historically high levels’ among young and middle-age adults, survey finds

(CNN) — The use of cannabis and hallucinogens “stayed at historically high levels” among both younger and middle-age adults in the US in 2023, according to the latest survey from Monitoring the Future, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan since 1975 and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“The survey is an important source of information about substance use trends among the adult population in the US,” said Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The survey showed that about 2 in 5 adults (42%) ages 19 to 30 reported using cannabis in the previous year, with about 10% of that group saying they used cannabis nearly every day.

For the first time, more women ages 19 to 30 reported cannabis use than men in the same age group, according to the survey data. However, there was a higher prevalence of men using cannabis than women in the older age group.

About 29% of midlife adults — people ages 35 to 50 — reported using cannabis at least once in the past year, with 8% reporting using cannabis on a daily basis.

These were not statistically different from the previous year’s findings of adults in both age groups in 2022, the researchers said, but demonstrate five- and 10-year increases.

“I’m kind of struck at how frequent daily cannabis use is. You know, about 10% of the 19- to 30-year-olds; that’s 1 in 10,” Compton said. “On average, a certain number of people in any group that’s a sizable portion are using marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis. And I think that bears watching, and those levels are at a historical high. Although they didn’t increase this year compared to the previous year, they’re still at quite high levels.”

Cannabis vaping rose slightly among younger adults, with about 1 in 5 adults in that age group saying they had used it at least once in the past year, and stayed about the same for midlife adults, with about 9% of people in that group vaping cannabis in the past year.

Nicotine vaping also stayed high among both groups of adults, according to the report.

Use of hallucinogens – such as LSD, mescaline, peyote, PC and shrooms or psilocybin – in the past year hovered around the same as in 2022, landing at 9% for adults 19 to 30 (versus 8% the previous year) and 4% for adults 35 to 50 in 2023 and 2022.

“We have seen that people at different stages of adulthood are trending toward use of drugs like cannabis and psychedelics and away from tobacco cigarettes,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “These findings underscore the urgent need for rigorous research on the potential risks and benefits of cannabis and hallucinogens – especially as new products continue to emerge.”

The most-used substance among adults is still alcohol, with more than 4 in 5 younger adults (84%) reporting drinking in the past year. However, frequent drinking – either monthly, daily or binge drinking – all decreased in 2023 from the decade prior among 19- to 30-year-olds.

The researchers also noted other decreases in drug use, reflecting a shift in habits. Cigarette smoking and use of opioid medications and prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons “maintained five- and 10-year declines” for both age groups.

“I think we’ve had very good news now for a number of years about declines in cigarette smoking. That’s been particularly true for the younger cohorts, and so our concern has been with the rise in vaping – and much higher rates of nicotine vaping in the last few years – might represent a new entree into nicotine addiction and eventual transition to the smoked products, which are so strongly associated with cancer and lung damage,” Compton said. “I’m a public health official, so I’m always pleased when we see progress, but I also want to point out the concerns that may be there in some of the other data.”

In 2023, drug overdose deaths decreased for the first time since 2018, according to preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. About 107,500 people died from a drug overdose in 2023, the data showed, driven by fentanyl and synthetic opioids.

While only slight changes were observed compared with the previous year’s Monitoring the Future survey results, the researchers say the results still help inform the bigger picture — especially as the survey respondents age.

“The data from 2023 did not show us many significant changes from the year before, but the power of surveys such as Monitoring the Future is to see the ebb and flow of various substance use trends over the longer term,” said Megan Patrick, a research professor at the University of Michigan and principal investigator of the Monitoring the Future panel study.

“As more and more of our original cohorts – first recruited as teens – now enter later adulthood, we will be able to examine the patterns and effects of drug use throughout the life course. In the coming years, this study will provide crucial data on substance use trends and health consequences among older populations, when people may be entering retirement and other new chapters of their lives.”

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