Healio (2/15, Rhoades) reports, “Despite ‘significant stressors’ that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, substance use decreased among adolescents and young adults in 2020 compared with pre-pandemic years,” investigators concluded. In fact, “results from the NIDA-supported Monitoring the Future” survey revealed that “the percentage of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders reporting drug use decreased significantly as the pandemic endured, consistent with…findings” that show “marked reduction in substance use among youth aged 13 to 20 years in 2020.” The study authors concluded that “the ‘massive shifts to social functioning’ early in the pandemic led to abrupt discontinuations of data collection on national substance use,” according to the findings published online Jan. 31 in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Substance use decreased among youth, young adults during COVID-19 pandemic “Andrew Rhoades, Healio, February 15, 2023