Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

> Monitoring the Future Study, which annually surveys eighth, 10th and 12th grade students across the United States.

I wonder if there is correlation to the opioid crisis, where the "downsides" (if you want to call it that) of drug abuse are so visible to teenagers that they are staying away from it. Doing drugs when it's associated with being "cool"/interesting like rappers is one thing, but when you associate it to fentanyl zombies living in the streets it loses a lot of its glamour.

I was not able to find the regional breakdown so it's just a conjecture though.

Not data driven at all, just my life experience, but I was a teen during the crack epidemic phase. It certainly had me and my peers cautious of crack itself, nobody wanted anything do to with it, but it was not a deterrence to drug usage in general. I was pretty experimental but when offered some crack once I remember declining; I wasn't even curious. The things that had the most correlation with my drug experimentation was 1) social activity/partying and 2) boredom. I think it's important to note as the average teen socializes significantly less and always has a digital crack pipe to cure their boredom; so I'd look there for a stronger causation.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I’ve completely stopped doing any drugs that I can’t make myself or purchase from a liquor store or dispensary (or shroom store). The risk of fentanyl making it into the product even for unrelated party drugs is just insane now and I don’t trust myself to use fentanyl strips properly while already high or tripping.

I wonder if that impacts teen drug use too, because for the first time opponents have a tangible risk to point to instead of just a dumb frying pan commercial and fearmongering.

I go to university next to a safe injection site. It's very clear what addiction leads to.

I was a big fan of cocaine back in the 90s. I never got to the "problem" level with it but if it was there I was the first to raise my hand.

My personality has changed a little, but I'd still probably jump at it today, if it weren't for the fear of fentanyl. I'm not worried about addiction, I'm worried about death.