American Teens Have Higher Rates of Illicit Drug Use Than European Peers

American 10th graders have a higher rate of illicit drug use than their European peers, researchers at the University of Michigan have found. American teens have lower rates of drinking and smoking.

The researchers compared data from the U.S. Monitoring the Future study’s national survey of 10th graders with data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, which includes 35 countries.

On average, only 18 percent of the European students had used an illicit drug in their lifetime, compared to 35 percent of U.S. students the same age, the study found. Only the Czech Republic ranked higher than the U.S. at 37 percent.