Adolescents reported a record decrease in perceived availability of marijuana and alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the use of these substances did not significantly change. Data from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which has been measuring substance use and related attitudes among adolescents for the past 46 years, was used by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor researchers. Their research findings (published June 2021) show that limiting the substance supply alone is not enough to reduce adolescent drug use.
In order to understand the effects of the pandemic, MTF surveyed 12th graders between the months of February to March and July to August of 2020. Responses showed that adolescents perceived a decrease in alcohol and marijuana availability at the beginning of the pandemic. Large decreases usually consist of a one to two percent difference in perceived availability, yet during 2020, the largest decrease since 1975 was reported. Marijuana perceived availability among adolescents decreased by 17% points, while alcohol decreased by 24% points. However, no significant decrease was reported in marijuana and alcohol use. The data mentioned above was weighted to be nationally representative.
It is expected that the use of these substances did not decrease due to the wide availability of marijuana and alcohol, as most students reported having access to them despite the social restrictions and decreased availability caused by the pandemic. Another reason for this plateau in use might be due to adolescents increasing their efforts to obtain alcohol and marijuana when confronted with less availability.
On the other hand, adolescents’ perceived availability of nicotine also decreased during the pandemic and, unlike the previously mentioned substances, nicotine use subsequently decreased. This decrease might be due to the legal smoking age increasing to 21 in early 2020. An increase in reported vaping-related lung injuries might also have had an effect on this decrease. The team lead and author of the MTF study, Dr. Richard A. Miech, reiterated the difficulty in lowering underage substance use by simply decreasing availability and stated that “the best strategy is likely to be one that combines approaches to limit the supply of these substances with efforts to decrease demand, through educational and public health campaigns.”