The Iowa Department of Public Health’s 2014 Youth Survey finds substance abuse among high school kids has dropped. Survey coordinator, Pat McGovern, says they asked middle and high school students questions about their use of beer, cigarettes and marijuana in the last 30 days.

The most notable decrease seen in alcohol use among high school students came in the percentage of 11th graders who said they ‘drank beer in the past 30 days,’ which dropped from 19 percent in 2012 to 14 percent in 2014.
While he likes the downward trend, McGovern says there’s something they don’t know from the survey.

The survey is done every two years.

Participation in the survey was up from 2012 to 77-thousand-139 students representing 85 percent of public school districts.
You can find a copy of the survey on the Iowa Department of Public Health’s website.