Use of cannabis, hallucinogen at 'historically high levels': Research

(The Hill) -- The use of cannabis and hallucinogens remained at “historically high levels” last year among adults between 19 and 30 and between 35 and 50, according to a survey released Thursday. 

The survey found that 42 percent of adults 19-30 reported using cannabis in 2023, and 10 percent said they used it daily. Nearly 30 percent of adults between 30 and 50 reported using it last year. 

Women between 19 and 30 reported higher cannabis use than their male counterparts, according to the Monitoring the Future survey. Males between 35 and 50, however, reported a higher use of cannabis than females in the same age range.

Cannabis vaping also increased among younger adults last year, with 1 in 5 stating they’ve participated at least once.

Additionally, nicotine vaping remained high among the younger adults, with about 25 percent saying they’ve participated at least once. Among the older age group, nicotine vaping remained around the same as in 2022, with 7 percent saying they’ve used at least once. 

Meanwhile, the use of hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, peyote, shrooms or psilocybin, continued a five-year trend of increasing, with 9 percent of respondents 19-30 saying they used hallucinogens, compared to 4 percent of respondents 35-50.

“We have seen that people at different stages of adulthood are trending toward use of drugs like cannabis and psychedelics and away from tobacco cigarettes,” Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, which supported the survey, said in a statement. “These findings underscore the urgent need for rigorous research on the potential risks and benefits of cannabis and hallucinogens – especially as new products continue to emerge.”

Alcohol was still the most-used substance among adults, according to the survey. Approximately 84 percent of adults 19-30 reported using it last year, while daily drinking and binge drinking were reported by 4 percent and 27 percent of respondents in that age group, respectively. 

“The data from 2023 did not show us many significant changes from the year before, but the power of surveys such as Monitoring the Future is to see the ebb and flow of various substance use trends over the longer term,” said Megan Patrick, the principal investigator of the Monitoring the Future panel study. “As more and more of our original cohorts – first recruited as teens – now enter later adulthood, we will be able to examine the patterns and effects of drug use throughout the life course.” 

The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.