Much concern has developed recently over the possible increase in hallucinogen use among children and young adults, as some researchers warn about a possible resurgence of use of these drugs. In particular, the Monitoring the Future Study, using a survey administered in schools, found a statistically significant increase from 1991-1992 in the lifetime and one-year prevalence of hallucinogen use among eighth-graders, as well as an increasing trend for all age groups through young adulthood. We set out to see if similar patterns of hallucinogen use could be observed using data from three National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse conducted in 1988, 1990, and 1992. We employed Generalized Additive Models (GAM) to examine the age-specific prevalence of hallucinogen use in the lifetime and past year. These models use a smoothing technique to account for non-linearity in prevalence across the age range while maximizing precision. We found no evidence of an increasing trend in the one-year or lifetime prevalence of hallucinogens over the last four years. In each of the surveys, 19 year olds were most likely to have used in the last year; however, there is no evidence that this use continues as these cohorts age into their twenties. These results indicate that the recent alarm over hallucinogen use should be tempered and that focus on this class of drugs should not distract attention from other drugs.
