VALENTINE, Neb. - A recent drug search at Valentine High School turned up nothing, as a detection dog found no evidence of drugs.

According to Principal Andy Cronin, the search included a classroom and students' bags as they left the room.

“Police can’t search a student—that’s illegal in Nebraska,” Cronin said. “One backpack was searched, but nothing was found.”

In addition to the backpack, authorities also searched one vehicle, but no drugs were detected.

Cronin said some in the community have questioned whether the search was thorough enough, but he assured the Valentine School Board Wednesday night that the dog used in the search is highly trained and capable of detecting even trace amounts of drugs.

“I’m not naive. I know drugs can be there, but this time there weren’t even trace amounts,” said Cronin.

While the U.S. is facing its deadliest drug epidemic in history, fewer high school students appear to be using drugs. According to the annual Monitoring the Future study, teen abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in 2024 reached its highest level since 2017.

Among 12th-graders, 67% reported abstaining from substance use in 2024, up from 53% in 2017. For 10th-graders, the abstention rate rose from 69% to 80%, while rates for eighth-graders increased slightly from 87% to 90%.

However, the use of nicotine pouches—small, tobacco-free packets that release nicotine inside the cheek—has doubled among 12th-graders in the past year, increasing to 6% in 2024. Among 10th-graders, usage rose from 2% to 3%. Experts, including those at Yale Medicine, warn that nicotine is highly addictive and particularly harmful to adolescent brain development.

Vaping, which spiked between 2017 and 2019 before leveling off in 2020, has continued to decline. In 2024, 21% of 12th-graders reported vaping, down from 35% in 2020. Among 10th-graders, vaping dropped from 31% in 2020 to 15% in 2024, while rates among eighth-graders fell from 17% to 10% over the same period.