Overview
- ENCODAT 2025 reports adult experimentation with illegal drugs rose from 10.6% in 2016 to 14.6% in 2025, driven chiefly by cannabis, hallucinogens and amphetamine‑type stimulants.
- Adolescent experimentation fell from 6.2% to 4.1%, yet teens show higher psychological distress and suicidal behavior than adults, including 3.3% ideation, 1.9% planning and 1.5% attempts in the past year.
- Cannabis remains the most used illegal drug, increasing in adults from 9.3% to 13.3%, while lifetime alcohol use among adult women climbed from 62.6% to 69.3%.
- E‑cigarette use doubled from 1.1% to 2.6% as smoked tobacco declined from 17.6% to 15.1%, alongside moves in the Senate to tighten rules on vaping devices.
- Non‑medical fentanyl prevalence is very low (0.2% ever; 0.1% past year), but opioids rose from 0.1% to 1.4% and misuse of medications from 1.3% to 2.5%, prompting enforced prescription requirements for tramadol; the nationally representative survey of 19,200 people restores monitoring after prior data gaps and replaces a flawed 2024 round.