WASHINGTON — The number of American teenagers using illegal drugs fell significantly over the past two years, the first noteworthy decline in more than a decade, according to government data released Friday.
The percentage of high school students who reported they had used an illicit drug in the previous month fell to 17.3 percent this year, down from 19.4 percent in 2001, according to the comprehensive "Monitoring the Future" survey. That translates into 400,000 fewer high school students using drugs.
Although they cannot be certain, Bush administration officials attributed the decline to more aggressive and targeted anti-drug advertising, additional money for treatment and a drop in supply caused by law enforcement crackdowns.
"This survey shows that when we push back against the drug problem, it gets smaller," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Fewer teens are using drugs because of the deliberate and serious messages they have received about the dangers of drugs."
Other analysts cautioned that drug use is cyclic and that the survey may understate the problem because it relies on young people to report their own illegal behavior.
"I’m pleased there is a drop, but two years does not make a trend," said Herbert Kleber, professor of psychiatry and director of the division on substance abuse at Columbia University. "I would like to see the shape of the curve over the next couple years to see whether this is a blip."
Since researchers began surveying eighth, 10th and 12th graders in 1975, teen drug use has followed a roller coaster path. After climbing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, usage slowly fell to 10.5 percent in 1992. The rate rose again to a high of 20.6 percent in 1996 and persistently hovered in that range until 2002.
This year, "Monitoring the Future" surveyed nearly 50,000 students in 392 high schools across the nation. The anonymous survey, which covers more than a dozen drugs, plus alcohol and tobacco, asks young people whether they have ever used drugs, alcohol or tobacco or used any in the past month.
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