On December 13th, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) released an article discussing the implications from data obtained from the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. The MTF survey reflects changing teen behavior and attitudes relating to substance abuse. The data suggests a continued long-term decline in the use of several substances including marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drug misuse

"Although non-medical use of prescription opioids remains a serious issue in the adult population, teen use of prescription opioid pain relievers is trending downwards among 12th graders with a 45 percent drop in past year use compared to five years ago. ".