Is substance abuse among teens and young adults a major problem in California? We believe that it is. This is especially true considering that in the United States, 90% of adults who meet the criteria for Substance Use Disorder began using substances (including tobacco) prior to the age of 18.
Drug abuse can be a scary topic. As of this writing towards the end of 2020, we are in the middle of a global pandemic, but there is another, often forgotten epidemic going on: the widespread use of drugs, alcohol, and vaping among youth and teenagers. Whether you are a parent dealing with the realization that your young one is experimenting, a representative from a school or community organization, or simply a concerned citizen, we would like to present the information to you in as straightforward a manner as possible. As a drug abuse program specializing in working with teenagers, we wanted to present some of the teen drug abuse facts and statistics.
Though this topic can be hard to make sense of, luckily there are a number of sources that compile teen statistics on the top drugs used by teens:
Sources of statistical information on teen and young adult drug abuse
The substance abuse in adolescence and teen statistics below are compiled from three primary sources:
Though all of these resources include data on other topics (such as instances of mental health issues), for the purpose of this article we will keep the discussion on their insights in to youth and young adult substance use in California. If you would like to see a complete list of references contained in this article, click here.
Defining the terms of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorder
We would like to start by defining a few commonly used terms in the substance abuse and drug abuse / addiction world.
Substance Abuse – This term refers to using a substance in a way that is problematic to the user. For instance, an individual may use substances and it may cause them to miss a school assignment, miss a family gathering, or affect their work performance. The presence of these “consequences” is one of the first symptoms we look for in determining whether someone has a substance use disorder.
Substance Use Disorder – This term was first introduced in 2013 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 5th Edition by the American Psychiatric Association. It is a diagnosable disorder characterized by the user reporting any of 11 criteria. These criteria range from reporting a desire to cut down on use, experiencing tolerance, experiencing withdrawal, and a number of others.
Alcohol, Marijuana, and Tobacco use among California adolescents aged 12-17 Statistics
The following three tables outline the statistics of substance abuse among secondary school students between the ages of 12-17. If you would like to skip ahead to specifically see data regarding young adults (aged 18-25), click here.
The California Health Care Foundation reported in their 2018 PDF that:
| Lifetime use of substances for various grades |
| |
Grade 7 |
Grade 9 |
Grade 11 |
| Alcohol |
13.3% |
32.3% |
51.7% |
| Cough/Cold Medicine |
– |
43.6% |
43.5% |
| Marijuana |
7.9% |
23.1% |
37.9% |
| Cocaine |
– |
3.7% |
6.4% |
| Prescription Pain Medications |
– |
16.8% |
21.8% |
| Percentage of 11th grade public school students that used a specific substance at least four times to get high |
| Alcohol |
33.0% |
| Cold/Cough Medicines |
31.2% |
| Marijuana |
25.1% |
| Prescription Pain Medications |
8.2% |
| Ecstasy |
3.4% |
| Inhalants |
3.6% |
| Cocaine |
3.0% |
The table below details statistics from the Behavioral Health Barometer, Volume 5 in regards to substance use in teens aged 12-17.
| Additional statistics on youth aged 12-17 (According to the Behavioral Health Barometer) |
| |
Initiation of use in the past year |
Used in the past month |
| |
California |
National Average |
California |
National Average |
| Marijuana |
5.2% |
4.8% |
7.5% |
6.8% |
| Cigarettes |
2.9% |
3.9% |
2.9% |
3.9% |
| Alcohol |
8.5% |
9.4% |
9.8% |
10.1% |
Other statistics on adolescent drug use
Kidsdata.org reports in their PDF that:
| Percentage of students who have used alcohol or other drugs in the previous month. |
| |
Female |
Male |
| 7th Grade |
7.3% |
7.1% |
| 9th Grade |
22.7% |
16.6% |
| 11th Grade |
30.0% |
27.7% |
Key takeaways regarding adolescent / teen substance abuse in California
The above three substance abuse categories represent the most commonly used substances among adolescents. The report notes that while tobacco and alcohol use among teens age 12-17 were down in 2017 from their levels in 2005, marijuana use has not dropped. The report also does not detail use of other drugs, such as opioids, stimulants, or prescription drugs. In our professional experience, we have seen that many teens are using other drugs, especially prescription drugs, more often and we would like to see these numbers included in the next survey.
Additionally, it should be noted that as the older the kids get, it appears the more likely they are to experiment with drugs or alcohol. While this is not surprising, it is very revealing to see statistics approaching 1 in 3 students using substances as they approach the 11th grade level.
Young adult (ages 18-25) drug use in California Statistics
There is significantly less data compiled on this topic, since “young adult” generally means that the subjects are over the age of 18. This age group tends to get lumped together in the “over 18” category, which typically includes any adult over the age of 18. However, the SAMHSA’s 2017 data does provide some insight on the topic:
| Young Adults aged 18-25 who reported (in the past year) |
| |
California |
National Average |
| Tobacco Use |
33.4% |
42.6% |
| Marijuana Use |
34.7% |
33.0% |
| Marijuana Use Disorder |
5.8% |
5.1% |
| Heroin Use |
0.9% |
1.3% |
| Illicit Drug Use Disorder |
7.5% |
7.2% |
| Binge Alcohol Use |
35.2% |
38.1% |
| Alcohol Use Disorder |
10.9% |
11.0% |
| Substance Use Disorder |
14.4% |
15.1% |
Key takeaways on young adult substance use and substance use disorder in California
As with the reported numbers on youth, key numbers have dropped since 2005 – alcohol and tobacco use are down. However, there is one notable exception. Marijuana use among young adults has risen from 28% to almost 35%.
Young adults are far more likely to have experimented with drugs in their lifetime, and they are far more likely to have experimented with “harder” drugs such as cocaine or heroin. The key point to remember with this age range is that many of them used for the first time before the age of 18, and the ones that didn’t are still at much higher risk of developing dependency than 25+ year olds who have fully developed frontal cortexes.
What to do about a young person’s drug use
This is often the question that parents, guardians, and loved ones have for us when we first meet them. For many of us, the day we realize that our loved one is using drugs can be described as the worst day of our lives. It’s common to experience guilt, shame, fear, anger, distrust, feelings of betrayal, or a combination of these emotions upon first discovering that a family member is using drugs.
We’d like to start by saying that – there is hope, and you are not alone in this realization.
We often say that there are no guarantees in the drug and alcohol treatment world, but what we do know is that as a program, we see the results of young people and teenagers changing their lives and mending their broken family relationships every day of the week.
Our first recommendation is that you connect with a professional in the field of youth and young adult substance abuse. Many programs offer free assessments, or will talk with you on the phone. It is especially valuable to receive an assessment from a professional because it can be incredibly difficult to assess the severity of an individual’s substance use without a proper assessment. Sometimes this process makes you realize that perhaps the problem wasn’t as bad as you thought, and other times you realize that it’s time to seek real help and/or treatment.
Though our offices are located in California and Arizona, we are more than happy to spend time with you on the phone discussing options. Please reach out to us if you have concerns, questions, or would like a free assessment.
References:
Alcohol/Drug Use in Past Month, by Grade Level
Beharioral Health Barometer, Calofornia, Volume 5
California Student Mental Health Scorecard, 2015-2017
Mental Health and Substance Use: A Crisis for California’s Youth
Substance use among adolescents in California: A latent class analysis
Youth Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use in California
