Average Age of First Drug Use Trending Up

Here at CPYU we endeavor to keep you up-to-date on the latest trends regarding teenagers and drugs. While we lament the reality of any teenager abusing drugs and alcohol, there is a positive trend which is somewhat encouraging. Researchers at Washington State University have found that between 2004 and 2017, that average age for first use has been trending upward. The age at which teens started drinking alcohol and smoking rose from sixteen to seventeen. The age of first use for those trying heroin rose from seventeen to eighteen. And for first use of cocaine it went from eighteen to nineteen. Researchers believe that this positive trend is evidence of the fact that drug and alcohol prevention efforts are working. The take away for us as parents is to keep working to warn our kids about the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual toll that drug and alcohol use exacts. Teach your kids to rely on God’s Word, and to carefully steward the gift of their brains and bodies.