Although alcohol use among teenagers dropped, the abuse of prescription drugs increased, according to a survey released Thursday. Teenagers from middle-class white families are the ones who most abuse of prescription drugs, thinking that as long as the doctor prescribes those medicines, they are not dangerous, which is entirely wrong.

The report also revealed bright spots: it seems that marijuana and alcohol use among 8th-, 10th- and 12th- graders has declined. Another positive fact disclosed by the survey is that cigarette smoking is at its lowest level since the beginning of the survey. However, the rate is very high. More than one in 10 teenagers smoke on a daily basis, whereas 5.4 percent said they smoked more than half a pack each day.

Still let’s not ignore the tragic part: nearly 10% of high school seniors reported using Vicodin for non-medical purposes in one year, while 4.7% reported abusing OxyContin. Both drugs are opioid painkillers.

Marijuana is the most commonly used of the illicit drugs and its use had been in a slow but steady decrease this decade, but that appeared to halt this year, researchers said.

Moreover, teen alcohol use has declined since the mid-1990s, though the levels are still pretty high. The 2008 survey showed that the number of 8th and 12th graders who reported that they drank alcohol one or more times in the past year remained fairly steady at about 32% and about 66% respectively. The number of 10th graders who reported alcohol use in the past year fell 3.8% to 52.5%.

But the annual survey has shown an overall downward trend in teen drug use this decade, and President George W. Bush, in comments at the White House, cited progress on the issue during his presidency: "No question there's still work to do in America, but we are making progress. And one way to note the progress is this statistic -- since 2001, teen-age use has declined by 25 percent. That means 900,000 fewer teens on drugs."