Vaping, marijuana use in 2019 rose in college-age adults

(National Institute of Drug Abuse, September 15) Vaping marijuana and vaping nicotine rose sharply in the past three years among college-age (19-22 years old) adults, according to 2019 survey results from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. The percentage of college students who said they vaped marijuana in the past 30 days rose from 5.2% in 2017 to 14% in 2019. The corresponding percentages for their non-college-attending peers increased from 7.8% in 2017 to 17% in 2019.

MTF, an ongoing study of the trends in substance use by adolescents and adults in the United States, is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The survey is conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor.

The percentage of college-age adults aged 19 to 22 who vaped nicotine also rose dramatically between 2017 and 2019. In 2017, 6.1% of college students and 7.9% of those not in college said they vaped nicotine in the past month, rising to 22% and 18%, respectively, in 2019. These increases in vaping marijuana and nicotine are among the largest increases in use for any substance reported by the study in its 45-year history. Read the rest on NIDA's website.