A new study, released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and the MetLife Foundation, found a number of interesting trends in teen drug use. Some of them echo the findings of Monitoring the Future from the past year – for example, that marijuana use in teens has been trending up in the past 3 years. Rising ecstasy use was also reported. As you can see in our teen drug use infographic, marijuana use has been rising for a few years, while cigarette use is set on a downward path.

(data for image taken from Monitoring the Future)

An area The Partnership/MetLife study took a particularly hard look at was underage drinking.  Drinking starts young – 62% of teens that report drinking said they had their first full drink by the age of 15.  25% of those teens had their first drink at the age of 12 or younger.

The study found that about a third of parents were unsure as to how they could prevent their teen from drinking, responding that there was very little a parent could do to stop it.  Meanwhile, a significant number of teens said that used alcohol to deal with stress in some way.  32% said they drank to forget their problems; 24% to deal with problems at home; 20% to deal with school-related pressures.  So, it would appear the idea that incidental teen alcohol use is related to parties and not other issues of self-confidence and social pressure has been debunked.

The % of teens prone to alcohol abuse is alarming, and suggests a need for better parent-teen communication on the issue.  Another issue parents and schools need to better address is teen prescription drug abuse.  The study reports that 1 in 4 teens have taken a prescription drug not prescribed to them at least once in their lives; 23% used a prescription painkiller not prescribed to them by a doctor.  11% of teens have abused cough medicine for its psychoactive effects.

Check out the study here and let us know what you think.  How should schools and parents shift their policies to adapt to these new trends?