"Health & Medical News"

The annual Monitoring the Future survey finds declining use of cigarettes and illicit drugs among 8th-graders that signifies “an ongoing cultural shift among teens and their attitudes about smoking and substance abuse,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

NIDA said that the 2007 survey found considerable declines in lifetime, past-month, and daily smoking among 8th-graders. Daily smoking rates fell to 3 percent, down from a peak of 10.4 percent in 1996.

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Young adults who have recently battled depression are at increased risk of starting to smoke cigarettes or initiating alcohol and other drug use, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

SAMHSA, drawing on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, said that youths ages 18 to 25 who reported a major depressive episode in the past year were 60 percent more likely than their peers to have started smoking, 35 percent more likely to have started drinking, twice as likely to have begun misusing prescription pain medication, and twice as likely to have started using illicit drugs.

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Young adults workers are more likely to use illicit drugs than older workers, according to a recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Nearly one-fifth of full-time workers ages 18 to 25 reported using illicit drugs in the past month, compared to 10% or fewer of workers ages 26 to 64.

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Washington — The latest national survey on drug abuse shows that illicit substance use has declined among young teens over the past four years, but alarming numbers of 18- to 25-year-olds are continuing to misuse prescription drugs. Increased use of illegal drugs is also reported among adults ages 50 to 54.

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