30 years ago: Illicit drug use by young people in U.S. levels off

A survey of high school seniors released on February 18, 1981 showed that the use of illicit drug use by young people in the United States ceased to rise in 1980. This was the first year since the beginning of the survey in 1975 that the upward climb had levelled off, and the number of students admitting to the use of marijuana had declined. Dr. Lloyd Johnston, the leader of the study for the National Institute of Drug Abuse, predicted that the rise in drug use among teenagers seemed to be at an end. A similar trend had been reported by the military.