The annual Monitoring the Future survey finds declining use of cigarettes and illicit drugs among 8th-graders that signifies "an ongoing cultural shift among teens and their attitudes about smoking and substance abuse," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

NIDA said that the 2007 survey found considerable declines in lifetime, past-month, and daily smoking among 8th-graders. Daily smoking rates fell to 3 percent, down from a peak of 10.4 percent in 1996.

A similar percentage of 8th-graders reported past-year marijuana use, down from 18.3 percent in 1996. However, the report found no declines in annual marijuana use among 10th- and 12th-graders.

"We are definitely seeing a decline in substance abuse among our youngest and most vulnerable teens, and we are committed to continuing our efforts," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health. NIDA director Nora Volkow added, "If this change in attitude is carried with [8th-graders] throughout the rest of their teen years, we could see a dramatic drop in smoking-related deaths in their generation."

The survey reported stubbornly high rates of prescription-drug abuse among students, however, with about 15 percent of high-school seniors reporting nonmedical use of drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin in the past year. Binge-drinking rates among 10th- and 12th-graders also remain high, NIDA said.

Also, the bad news in the report was not limited to older participants: 8th-graders are less likely to perceive drugs like ecstasy and LSD as harmful, and both perception of harm and use of these drugs has increased among 10th- and 12th-graders.

More information on the Monitoring the Future survey is available online.