Published: January 15, 1997

Health Update

Drug use among adolescents continued to climb last year, driven by sharp increases in marijuana and tobacco use among the youngest teenagers, a federally funded survey reports.

Between 1995 and 1996, the overall use of illicit drugs by young people jumped between 2 and 4 percent, according to researchers at the University of Michigan, which conducts the annual "Monitoring the Future" survey for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In interviews with 50,000 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in public and private schools, the researchers found that the share of 8th graders who had tried marijuana at least once in their lifetimes increased from nearly 20 percent in 1995 to 23 percent last year, building on an upward trend that began in 1991. The portion of 10th graders who had tried marijuana also rose from 34 percent in 1995 to...