Study: Cannabis and Psychedelics Use in Young Adults Reaches ‘All-Time Highs’

Young adults in the United States who use cannabis and hallucinogens have reached “historic highs,” according to new federal research released this week.

Data from the National Institutes of Health found that use of cannabis and hallucinogens among people aged 19 to 30 “increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago” and reached the highest level in the age group since 1988.

“As the drug landscape changes over time, these data provide insight into the substances and patterns of use favored by young adults. We need to know more about how young adults use drugs like marijuana and hallucinogens, and the health effects of using different potencies and forms of these substances,” the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow, said in an accompanying statement Monday the study. “Young adults are at a critical time in life and improving their ability to make informed decisions. Understanding how substance use can impact educational decisions in young adulthood is critical to positioning the new generations for success.”

The data is part of the NIH-sponsored “Monitoring the Future” study, which has been conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan since 1975.

The latest edition of the MTF study found that in 2021, “past-year, past-month, and daily (use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days) use of marijuana reached the highest levels on record since Trends ever recorded were first monitored in 1988.”

“The proportion of young adults who reported having used marijuana in the past year reached 43% in 2021, a significant increase from 34% five years ago (2016) and 29% 10 years ago (2011). Marijuana use in the past month was reported by 29% of young adults in 2021, compared to 21% in 2016 and 17% in 2011. Daily marijuana use also increased significantly during these periods, reported by 11% of young adults in 2021 Year 2021 indicated. compared to 8% in 2016 and 6% in 2011,” the study said.

The researchers said that over the past year, hallucinogen use “was relatively stable over the past few decades through 2020, when reports of use increased dramatically.” Last year it reached historic heights.

“In 2021, 8% of young adults reported using hallucinogens in the past year, which is an all-time high since this category was first surveyed in 1988. In 2011, only 3% reported using it. Types of hallucinogens reported by participants included LSD, MDMA, mescaline, peyote, “shrooms” or psilocybin, and PCP. The only hallucinogen measured to show a significant decrease in use was MDMA (also called ecstasy or molly), which showed a statistically significant decrease both within one year and over the last five years – from 5% in both 2016 and 2020 to 3% in 2021 study said.

The study showed that alcohol and hallucinogens were far from the only vices that had increased among young adults in the past year.

Binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, “returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, after falling significantly in 2020 (32% reported in 2021, versus 28% in 2020 and 32% in 2019),” according to the study.

Meanwhile, high-intensity drinking, defined as drinking 10 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, was at its highest level since it was first measured in 2005, compared to 13% of young adults in 2021 with 11% a year 2005,” says the study.

However, the study showed “a significant decrease in last-month cigarette smoking by young adults and non-medical opioid drug use in the past year (recorded as “narcotic drugs other than heroin”) compared to 10 years ago.” Nicotine vaping, on the other hand, “has increased significantly among young adults in 2021, although it leveled off in 2020 during the earlier part of the pandemic,” according to the study.