Substance Use
Alcohol, vaping, cannabis and tobacco
Every major category declined again in 2025. The story is in who's still using, what they're using, and where prevention has the most leverage.
267,379 students · official baseline
Past-30-day use by grade
Use rises sharply through high school
Percent reporting use in the past 30 days, 2025
n = 267,3792025% past 30 days
Source: 2025 PAYS State of Pennsylvania Profile Report
Statewide trend
All grades combined, past 30 days
2021 · 2023 · 2025% past 30 days
Source: PAYS 2021, 2023, 2025
Substance-by-substance deep dive
Tap any row for the plain-language summary, who's most affected, and what the data implies.
Translation for coalitions
Pair past-30-day use with perceived risk of harm for each substance. Where use is low but perceived risk is also low, prioritize prevention messaging before rates rise.
Subgroup spotlight
Past-30-day use is far from evenly distributed. These subgroups carry disproportionate burden in PAYS 2025.
12th graders, alcohol
18.1%
vs. 9.1% statewide across all grades
LGBQ+ students, cannabis
9.4%
Past 30 days, ~2.2× the rate of straight peers
Students reporting weekly family conflict
21.7%
Any past-30-day substance use vs. 7.9% without
Subgroup cells with n < 30 are suppressed. See methodology.