Monitoring the Future Survey Shows Continued Reductions in Drug Use; 8th Grader Statistics Reiterate Need for Prevention, Early Intervention.

Byline: Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- This year's Monitoring the Future survey showed a 19 percent decline of past month illicit drug use over the past four years from 2001 and 2005 among 8th, 10th and 12th graders combined. However, experts warned that the long-term improvements seen since 1996 among 8th graders appear to have slowed. The annual survey was released jointly by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the University of Michigan this week in Washington, D.C.

The downward trend is driven largely by decreasing rates of marijuana use among 8th-, 10th- and 12th-grade students. …