Binge drinking, vaping, marijuana use, and hallucinogen consumption reached an all-time high among U.S. adults in 2022, showing a significant upward trajectory in substance use in recent years.
New research from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel showed that middle-aged adults, between the ages of 35 and 50, are using marijuana and hallucinogens at record levels. Binge drinking had also spiked to the "highest prevalence... ever recorded for this age group," according to the study, reports USA Today.
For younger adults aged 19 to 30, marijuana use and nicotine vaping saw a sharp increase in the past five years, climbing to their highest historic levels ever seen in 2022.
"Substance use is not limited to teens and young adults, and these data help us understand how people use drugs across the lifespan," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The MTF panel study is an annual survey that analyzes substance use behaviors and attitudes seen in adults between the ages of 19 and 60. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it collects data from a sample of 28,500 participants nationwide each year.
Among other findings:
--About 44% of young adults reported using marijuana in the past year, an increase from 28% about a decade ago. Daily marijuana use reached its highest level in the age group, nearly doubling from 10 years ago, with more than 1 in 10 using cannabis almost every day.
--For adults between the ages of 35 and 50, marijuana use more than doubled compared to 10 years ago with 28% reporting having used the drug.
--Both young and middle-aged adult groups used hallucinogens such as LSD, MDMA, mescaline, peyote, shrooms or psilocybin, and PCP at a significantly higher rate compared to ten years ago. Among adults aged 19 to 30, 8% reported past-year use of hallucinogens while 4% of adults 35 to 50 years old reported use.