Among 17 high-income nations, America has the highest probability of its residents dying by age 50, according to Monitoring the Future’s (MTF) 2022 report, and a primary reason is drug use.
“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,” MTF states.
It added that concerning changes in society, youth are often on the “leading edge,” and what happens in that demographic reverberates throughout society.
“The substantial changes in drug use during the last 50 or so years have proven to be largely a youth phenomenon,” MTF states, adding that “the relapse in the drug epidemic in the early 1990s initially occurred almost exclusively among adolescents. Adolescents and adults in their 20s fall into the age groups at highest risk for illicit drug use.”…