Indicator: 10 - Youth Illicit Drug Use 

 

Why This Is Important

Alcohol use by adolescents is linked to a host of physical and social problems, including
motor vehicle crime and fatalities. Early onset of use decreases potential economic productivity
as an adult and results in a disproportionate share of health care services for those affected.
Use of drugs is a preventable behavior that, when established in youth, may develop into chronic
drug dependency and severe illness. Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of
death in the United States. Marijuana use has both health and cognitive risks, and it is one of the
most abused illicit drugs.

 

Where We Stand

According to the 2003 Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), about 42% of high school
aged youth had at least one alcoholic drink on one or more of the past 30 days (down slightly
from previous surveys), 21% reported smoking cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days (also
down from previous surveys), and 26% said that they used marijuana one or more times in the
past 30 days (also down slightly). In general, older teens were more likely to report these
behaviors than younger ones. Boys were more likely than girls to smoke cigarettes (22% versus
19%), drink alcohol (43% versus 41%) and use marijuana (31% to 21%). Since 1995, the trend
is in a positive direction for youth illicit use of alcohol and tobacco – dropping by over 10% during
the past 8 years. However, for marijuana there has not been that much positive change over time
– less than a 3% decrease.

 

 

Data Sources and Context

This information comes from the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Maine Department
of Education. The data source is the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System maintained by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data from the Maine YRBS is available
on-line at http://www.mainecshp.com/survey.html. National YRBS figures can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs.

*Important Note: YRBS data is gathered every two years using a questionnaire administered to
a sample of students in Maine and nationally. When the Maine YRBS survey has an overall
response rate of 60% or higher, the CDC statistically weights the results so that the numbers can
be generalized to all public school students in the state in grades 9-12. When the overall response
rate is below 60%, the CDC does not perform such statistical weighting, and the data apply only to
the students who actually filled out the questionnaires. Maine’s YRBS data for 1993 and 1999 was unweighted, so information for those years cannot be compared reliably with data from 1995,
1997, 2001 and 2003.