WASHINGTON — Illicit drug use by teens continued to gradually decline overall this year, but the use of prescription painkillers remains popular among young people, according to a federally financed study released Tuesday at the White House.
The survey, by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, looked at the behavior of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders nationwide. The study, in its 33rd year, found that overall drug use is falling, thanks to a drop in the popularity of marijuana and methamphetamine.
But it also found that teen use of other drugs, such as cocaine, is holding steady, and narcotics such as OxyContin and Vicodin remain in vogue.
Overall, the proportion of eighth-graders reporting use of an illicit drug at least once in the 12 months before the survey was 24 percent in 1996. It now has fallen to 13 percent.
Among 10th-graders, the rates dropped from 39 percent to 28 percent between 1997 and 2007. Twelfth-graders saw a decline from a peak of 42 percent in 1997 to 36 percent this year.
The study, financed by the National Institute on Drug Use, surveyed 50,000 teens.
The drugs most responsible for this year’s decline in illicit drug use are marijuana and various stimulants, including amphetamines, methamphetamine and crystal methamphetamine. Meth use has fallen 64 percent since 2001, President Bush said Tuesday.
Cocaine did not show a decline this year. Between 2 percent and 5 percent of the eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders surveyed said they had tried it in the 12 months before the survey. Crack use, which previously declined in all three grades, showed no further decline this year.
At least one in every 20 high school seniors has at least tried OxyContin, a powerful narcotic drug, in the past year, the study said. The popularity of the painkiller Vicodin also remained constant. The percentage of students using Vicodin was 2.7 percent, 7.2 percent and 9.6 percent in eighth, 10th and 12th grades, respectively.
The study also reported an increase in the use of ecstasy.
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