Annual Survey conducted by The University of Michigan researchers on U.S. teen drug use revealed that there is a downward trend in cigarette smoking and alcohol use. However, abuse of prescription drugs and marijuana remains the same.

According to the researchers, marijuana is the most commonly used among all the illegal drugs. Though the use of marijuana had shown decline this decade, but that this year the decline seemed to have stopped.

The findings were based on responses from 46,348 students from 386 U.S. schools.

It was also found that amphetamine use which had reached its recent peak in the 1990s has fallen by about half since then. There is also decline in the use of Ritalin. This year's survey found 3.4 percent of 12th graders reported having used it for non-medical purposes in the past year.

The research has also indicated that methamphetamine, often called "meth," has been falling since its use was first tracked in the survey in 1999.
But little change has been witnessed over the past six years when it comes to prescription drug abuse among teens. The 2008 survey showed that nearly 10 percent of seniors reported they had abused Vicodin in the past year, while 4.7 percent reported abusing OxyContin.

NIDA Director Dr Nora D. Volkov opines that though the long-term decline in use of cigarettes and alcohol is an encouraging sign, the use of drugs especially non- medical use of prescription drugs is a dangerous trend.