Substance use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality; it is in large part why, among 17 high-income nations, people in the United States have the highest probability of dying by age 50.1,2,3 Substance use is also an important contributor to many social problems including domestic violence, violence more generally, criminal behavior, suicide, and more—and it is typically initiated during adolescence. It warrants our sustained attention.

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is designed to provide scientifically reliable information on trends, drivers, and consequences of substance use among U.S. youth and adults. It is an investigator-initiated study that originated with, and is conducted by, teams of researchers at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Since its onset in 1975, MTF has been funded continuously by the National Institute on Drug Abuse—one of the National Institutes of Health—under a series of peer reviewed, competitive research grants. The 2025 survey, reported here, is the 51st consecutive national survey of 12th grade students and the 35th national survey of 8th and 10th grade students (who were added to the study in 1991). 

MTF conducts ongoing national surveys of both adolescents and adults in the United States. It provides the nation with a vital window into the important but often hidden problem behaviors of use of illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs used nonmedically. For five decades, MTF has helped provide a clearer view of the changing topography of these problem behaviors among adolescents and adults, a better understanding of the dynamic factors that drive some of these behaviors, and a better understanding of some of their consequences. It has also provided policymakers, government agencies, public health professionals, and nongovernmental organizations in the field some practical approaches for intervening. 

A widespread epidemic of illicit drug use emerged in the 1960s among U.S. youth, and since then dramatic changes have occurred in the use of nearly all types of illicit drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco. These changes include the emergence of new policies such as the legalization of recreational cannabis use, the Master Tobacco Settlement of 1998, and the Tobacco 21 laws. Many new substances have emerged over the life of the survey, including hemp-derived psychoactive drugs such as Delta-8, flavored cannabis solutions for vaping, tobacco pouches (e.g., “Zyn”), and drugs taken for performance enhancement. New devices and methods for taking drugs, such as vaporizers, provide novel ways to use substances and use them in new combinations. Unfortunately, the number of new substances added to the list over the years substantially outnumbers the number removed because so many substances remain in active use.

Throughout these many changes, substance use among the nation’s youth has remained a major concern for parents, educators, health professionals, law enforcement, and policymakers, largely because substance misuse is one of the largest and yet most preventable causes of morbidity and mortality during and after adolescence. The MTF annual reports are a key vehicle for disseminating MTF’s epidemiological findings. In addition to this annual report, the series includes a separate, annual report that presents prevalence and trends among U.S. adults now ages 19 to 65, including both college students and their high-school graduate age peers who are not attending college (scheduled for publication in July). These reports, along with MTF press releases, are available on the project website at www.monitoringthefuture.org.