Long-Term Trend Shows Fewer Youth on Meth and Other Drugs

Governor Kristi Noem has used statistics on youth drug use to heighten interest in her anti-meth campaign:

She says that about 1.6 million people reported using meth in 2017 and that, In South Dakota alone, 12-17-year olds who have tried meth is two times the national average [Bob Faehn, “Governor Noem Defends New Anti-Meth Ad Campaign,” KXLG Radio, 2019.11.21].

The 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health says, “About 9,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 were current methamphetamine users. This number corresponds to less than 0.1 percent of adolescents being current methamphetamine users” [p. 20]. KOTA-TV goes looking and claims to find that the 2016-2017 NSDUH says 0.3 percent of South Dakota teens tried meth at least once in the past year. I’m not sure where KOTA gets this South Dakota-specific figure, since the state estimates offered by NSDUH on illicit drug use don’t itemize meth use:

Hmmm… if marijuana is a gateway drug to other drugs, only a small minority of teens nationwide go through that gate (Remember, pot makes kids less ambitious and curious, not more.)

The South Dakota edition of that report doesn’t mention meth. It does say that slightly fewer of our youth smoke pot or use heroin than the national rate, more smoke cigarettes, and about the same percentage drink alcohol.

The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicates South Dakota youth are using meth more than the national average. 2.5% of young respondents nationwide told the 2017 YRBS that they had tried meth at least once in their lifetimes. In the South Dakota slice of that survey, 3.8% of South Dakota students said they’d tried meth at least once in their lifetimes. That’s 1.5 times the national average.

KOTA-TV tracks down some other sources that say, contrary to our perceptions, youth drug use overall is showing a long-term decline. According to the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the percentage of students nationwide who have ever used illegal drugs dropped by over a third from 2007 to 2017:

South Dakota’s illegal drug use trends have shown similar declines:

It is perhaps worth noting that South Dakota youth turned away from meth big in 2009, during the recession, then returned to it, though not in the same numbers as were using in 2007.

Even one kid doing meth is a problem, and we should continue investing in education, cultural activities, and higher wages to provide young people with more opportunities to avoid the despair that leads to drug use. But the numbers above indicate that, nationwide and in South Dakota, we’ve already done some things right to persuade more kids to stay away from drugs.