Teen drug use remains low, but survey finds small rise in heroin and
cocaine use
[December 18, 2025]
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — Teen use of alcohol, nicotine and marijuana remains at
record lows, according to national survey results released Wednesday.
They consume a lot of energy drinks, though. And there are slight, but
concerning, increases in heroin and cocaine use.
But overall, the findings indicate teens are drinking, smoking and using
substances at much lower rates than in the past.
Two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol,
marijuana, cigarettes or electronic cigarettes in the previous 30 days.
Thirty years ago — before the advent of e-cigarettes — the figure was
closer to about one-third.
Among 10th graders, 82% said they hadn’t used any of those substances
recently. Among eighth graders, 91% didn’t use any of them. Both are
records for those ages in the annual survey.
The findings also seem to echo other surveys that show continued
declines in teen sexual activity, which experts say is at least partly
due to teens connecting through smartphones and social media instead of
in person.
“Online connections don’t create the same opportunities for
experimenting with sex, alcohol or marijuana as unsupervised time
face-to-face,” said Laura Lindberg, a Rutgers University professor who
researches adolescent sexual behavior.
Douglas Smith, a University of Illinois researcher, noted earlier
generations seemed more likely to “go to the woods and drink, or go to a
party where there were no parents” to socialize.
“Now teenagers can be in constant communication with their friends and
can live a life with their friends in virtual space — without using
substances,” Smith added.
The new results come from the federally funded Monitoring the Future
survey, run by the University of Michigan. The annual survey has been
operating since 1975 and has long been considered a top source of
national data on teen substance abuse.
This year’s findings are based on responses from about 24,000 students
in grades 8, 10 and 12 in schools across the country. It was conducted
from February to June this year.
Teen drug use has been gradually declining for decades, and fell
dramatically at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when students
across the country were told not to go to schools and to avoid parties
or other gatherings.
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Students walk the halls at a high school in Philadelphia on Aug. 29,
2013. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
 Experts expected at least a bit of a
rebound as pandemic restrictions eased, but that hasn't happened.
The 2025 results show no increases in teens' use of alcohol,
marijuana, cigarettes or nicotine vapes in any of the three grade
levels. In 2024, researchers had noted an uptick in the use of
nicotine pouches, but that too held steady this year, the survey
found.
Energy drinks are as popular as ever, with daily consumption
reported by 23% of 12th graders, 20% of 10th graders and 18% of
eighth graders.
The survey also found a striking increase in heroin use.
Use by 12th graders in the previous 12 months rose to 0.9% in 2025,
from 0.2% the year before. Use by 10th graders hit 0.5%, up from
0.1%. And use by eighth graders also rose to 0.5%, up from 0.2%.
Cocaine use held steady for 10th graders, but rose for eighth
graders — to 0.6% — and 12th graders — to 1.4%.
Teen heroin and cocaine use are "leagues below what they were
decades ago,” but the increases warrant close monitoring, said
Richard Miech, survey team lead at the University of Michigan.
There are other possible factors for the overall decline in teen
substance use: efforts to curb youth vaping, taxes on some
substances, and the fact that teenagers are less likely to drive
than in the past.
“Adolescents’ lives are complicated, and these changes don’t have a
single explanation,” Lindberg said in an email.
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