Summary and Analysis
Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an ongoing, long-term study that surveys trends in legal and illicit drug use among American adolescents and adults as well as personal levels of perceived risk and disapproval for each drug. The survey is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and funded by research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This annual study has been conducted since 1975 and provides the largest data set on drug use in the U.S.
The most recent study results were highlighted by the troubling finding that marijuana and hallucinogen use for young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to levels of use five and 10 years ago.
Other important findings include:
- Alcohol remains the most-used substance among adults
- Daily marijuana use (use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days) reached the highest levels ever recorded since these trends were first monitored in 1988.
Excerpted from University of Michigan Institute for Social Research
Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988, according to the Monitoring the Future panel study.
The MTF study is conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and funded by NIDA, part of the National Institutes of Health.
