CINCINNATI -- PreventionFIRST! has good news for parents in the Tri-State: Most of their middle and high school-age children are not using cigarettes, alcohol or other substances, as reported Tuesday by the 2016 Student Drug-Use Survey.
The key takeaways are that alcohol, cigarette and prescription drug use is trending downward while use of marijuana has increased slightly. The survey also reveals that tobacco and prescription drugs are perceived as more harmful to health than alcohol and marijuana.
As measured by the past 30-day use indicator:
- 95.4 percent report not using prescription drugs non-medically
- 91.8 percent do not use cigarettes
- 88.3 percent report not using marijuana
- 83.7 percent do not use alcohol
Peer and parental disapproval rates are at an all-time high, which is an important factor as parents and friends are the No. 1 influencers in a young person’s life.
“We know how important friends and parents are in a young person’s life,” said Mary Haag, president and CEO of PreventionFIRST! “With this data, we can increase partnerships and strengthen prevention plans in the Tri-State to further reduce and prevent young people from abusing substances and build prevention prepared communities.”
PreventionFIRST!, formerly the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, organizes the survey every two years for students from seventh to 12th grades from a 10-county area around Cincinnati. 39,000 students from 88 local schools took part in this year's survey in fall 2015.
Review the full results below for further details.
