"• Regular use of any drug meets with strong disapproval among 12th grade students (see Table 8-6). Among illicit drugs other than marijuana, more than 90% of 12th graders disapproved of use of any of them in 2024.
"• The lowest levels of disapproval for regular use among 12th grade students in 2024 are regular marijuana use at 68%, regular marijuana vaping at 76%, daily alcohol drinking at 79%, and regular nicotine vaping at 81%. Regular marijuana vaping has a substantially lower level of disapproval than does regular nicotine vaping.
"• For each of the drugs included in this set of questions, fewer respondents indicated disapproval of experimental or occasional use than of regular use, as might be expected. However, the differences are not great for the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana because nearly all 12th graders disapproved of even experimenting with them. For example, in 2024, the proportions disapproving of experimental use were 94% for heroin, 90% for cocaine, 79% for LSD, and 90% for MDMA (ecstasy, Molly). The high levels of disapproval could be widely publicized and provide the basis for some potentially powerful prevention messages in the form of normative education.
"• Disapproval of marijuana by 12th graders increased substantially for more regular levels of use. In 2024, 40% disapproved of experimental use, 50% of occasional use, and 68% of regular use.
"• Smoking a pack (or more) of cigarettes per day now meets with disapproval by almost eight out of nine (88%) 12th grade students—a level comparable to the level of disapproval for many of the illicit drugs and substantially higher than disapproval of regular marijuana use.
"• Having one or two drinks nearly every day meets with the disapproval of 79% of 12th graders in 2024. Curiously, slightly fewer (73%) disapproved of weekend binge drinking (five or more drinks once or twice each weekend). This contrasts with perceived risk, for which weekend binge drinking (43%) ranked substantially higher than having one or two drinks nearly every day (29%). This divergence between disapproval and perceived risk of the two behaviors illustrate their differences."
Miech, R. A., Johnston, L. D., Patrick, M. E., & O'Malley, P. M. (2025). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2024: Overview and detailed results for secondary school students. Monitoring the Future Monograph Series. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
