Substance Use Decline, But What’s Driving It?

The percentage of high schoolers who reported they used tobacco products in 2023 is down from 2022 according to the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey. The drop, from 16% to 12%, is encouraging, as is E-cigarette usage, which decreased from 14.1% to 10%. The trend mimics a similar drop in length of stay for substance use disorder cases in hospitals, down from 10.1 days to about 7.5 from ’21 to ’22 according to one commercial insurance plan. The trends are promising but given the potential for so many high costs and recurrence of substance use, the “work is far from over” according to experts at the CDC. 

So what’s behind the recent drop in substance use in teens? Perhaps stigma, as 84% in our own poll of 1,900 teens say that they feel embarrassed by smoking and vaping, “that it was cool” once upon a time “but it’s just not as popular.” Or perhaps the answer is experience, as 67% say they tried vaping and smoking and even though most say they “got addicted” to the behavior, they “got so sick so often, coughing, hacking, vomiting” that they just had to stop, that the "high” was great, but “not better than the low.” There is another reason that is potentially more problematic, which is the shift in addiction from one coping mechanism to another…like from e-cigarettes to mixed drinks.

The Behavioral Health Hour is partnering with Imagine Sports to produce a documentary on addiction. Contact us with any questions.