BLOOMINGTON — Substance use among Indiana middle and high school students has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, according to newly released data from the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington.
The annual study, administered by the university’s Prevention Insights Center, analyzed survey responses from approximately 55,000 students in grades 6 through 12 across 180 public and private schools statewide.
Jon Agley, associate professor and executive director of Prevention Insights, said this is a new phenomenon, with statistically significant decreases in many substances and from many grade levels.
Sharp Declines in Alcohol, Vaping, and Marijuana
The findings show widespread reductions across several major substance categories:
- Alcohol Use: Among students in grades 7 through 12, past-month alcohol consumption dropped from 19.4% in 2016 to 7.1% this year. For 6th graders, reported use dipped from 3.6% to 2.8% over the same period.
- Vaping & E-Cigarettes: Overall past-month vaping among grades 7 through 12 fell to 5.3%, down from 13.3% in 2016. The decline is particularly steep among high school seniors: at the peak of the youth vaping trend in 2018, nearly 30% of Indiana seniors reported vaping, compared to just 8% this year.
- Marijuana & Cigarettes: Traditional cigarette smoking and cannabis use both recorded notable multi-year declines across nearly all surveyed grade levels.
Indiana Youth Substance Trends at a Glance
Category / MetricPeak / Past BenchmarkCurrent RateKey Trend
Alcohol (Grades 7–12)19.4% (2016)7.1%Lowest rate in over a decade…