Ann Arbor Times

The percentages of adults using cannabis and hallucinogens over the past year remained at historically high levels in 2023, according to findings from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey. The study highlights that adults aged 19 to 30 and 35 to 50 reported higher levels of cannabis and hallucinogen use compared to previous years.

In contrast, tobacco cigarette use reached all-time low levels among both adult groups. Alcohol use among young adults aged 19 to 30 showed a decade-long decline, with binge drinking hitting record lows. However, binge drinking among those aged 35 to 50 increased compared to five and ten years ago.

The Monitoring the Future study is conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and funded by the National Institutes of Health. Reports indicate that vaping nicotine or cannabis in the past year among adults aged 19 to 30 rose over five years, maintaining record highs in 2023. For those aged 35 to 50, nicotine vaping and cannabis vaping prevalence remained steady from the previous year.

For the first time in 2023, women aged 19 to 30 reported a higher prevalence of past-year cannabis use than men in the same age group. Conversely, men aged 35 to 50 continued to report higher past-year cannabis use than women of the same age group.

“Alcohol continues to be the most commonly used substance across age groups, followed by cannabis and nicotine,” said Megan Patrick, ISR research professor and principal investigator of the MTF panel study. “The longer-term trends indicate that cannabis and psychedelic use have been increasing for both young adults and midlife adults.”

Since its inception in 1975, the Monitoring the Future study has annually surveyed substance use behaviors among teens. A longitudinal component tracks drug use into adulthood through follow-up surveys on a subset of participants every other year from ages 19 to 30 and every five years after age 30.

Data for the latest panel study were collected via online and paper surveys from April through October of last year. Key findings include:

- Cannabis use in the past year remained high for both adult groups: approximately 42% for ages 19-30 (with daily use at about10%) and around29%for ages35-50(with dailyuseat8%).

- Cannabis vaping was reported by22%ofadultsaged19to30andby9%ofadultsaged35to50.

- Nicotinevapingamongadultsaged19to30reachedrecordhighsin2023,past-yearuseat25%.

-Hallucinogenusecontinuedasteepfive-yearincrease,reaching9%forages19to304%forages35to50.

-Alcoholremainsthemostusedsubstance;84%ofadultsaged19to3035to50reportedpast-yearusein2023.

Past-month cigarette smoking maintained declines over fiveandtenyears,bothgroupsshoweddecreasesinnonmedicalprescriptiondruguseopioidmedications.Similarly,past-year stimulant usedecreasedamongyoungadultsoverthepastdecadewhilemodestlyincreasingformidlifeadults.

Megan Patrick emphasized that while significant changes from one year might not be evident,"the powerofsurveyslikeMonitoringtheFutureistoseethelong-termebbflowofsubstanceusetrends."

Further information on data collection methods is available through MonitoringtheFuture'sreport.Relatedstudyresultsonteensubstanceusewere releasedDecember20232024resultsareexpectedDecember2024.

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