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U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Services July 1994
In 1993, an estimated 11.7 million Americans were current illicit drug users. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, used by 77 percent of illicit drug users. The peak year for current illicit drug use was 1979 when an estimated 24 million were current users.
Current illicit drug use was highest among 18- to 25-year-olds. Rates of use in 1993 were not significantly different from the rates of use in either 1992 or 1991.
The rate of current illicit drug use for blacks (6.8%) remained somewhat higher than for whites (5.5%). The rate for Hispanics was 6.2 percent.
Men continued to have a higher rate of current illicit drug use than women (7.4% vs. 4.1%).
Current illicit drug use remains highest in the western region. The rate dropped significantly in large metropolitan areas (from 13.6% in 1985 to 5.6% in 1993), in small metropolitan areas (11.8% to 6.4%) and in non-metropolitan areas (7.5% to 4.6%).
Illicit drug rates remain highly correlated with educational status. Among 18- to34-year-olds in 1993, those who had not completed high school had the highest rate of use (15.4%), while college graduates had the lowest rate of use (6.0%).
The current illicit drug use of unemployed adults (18 years and older) was high at 11.6 percent, compared with employed adults at 6.2 percent.
An estimated 9 million Americans were current marijuana or hashish users in 1993. This represents 4.3 percent of the total population aged 12 or older. Use has increased among high school students.
The number of cocaine users did not change between 1992 and 1993; there were an estimated one-half million frequent cocaine users in 1993. Approximately 60 percent of these cocaine users were ages 18-34. Use among blacks (1.3%) and Hispanics (1.1%) compared with whites (.05%). The rate of current cocaine use was highest among the unemployed.
There were no major changes in the prevalence of the use of inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin or nonmedical use of psychotherapeutics between 1992 and 1993. There was a significant decrease in the use of nonprescribed tranquilizers between 1991 and 1993, but there were no changes in the use of nonprescribed sedatives, stimulants or analgesics between 1991 and 1993.
Alcohol usage was significantly lower in 1993 than it was in 1985 when 58 percent of the population (112 million) were drinkers. Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks per occasion on five or more days a month. Heavy drinkers were more likely to be illicit drug users in 1993. Of the 11 million heavy drinkers, 25.5 percent (3 million) were current illicit drug users. Among the 92 million current drinkers who were not heavy drinkers, the rate of drug use was 7.6 percent. In contrast to the pattern for illicit drugs, the higher the level of educational attainment, the more likely the current use of alcohol.
In 1993, 45 percent of the population associated great risk of harm with occasional marijuana use, while 77 percent associated great risk with the regular use of marijuana. In general, the percentage of the population perceiving great risk in illicit drug use changed little between 1991 and 1993, although it was higher in 1993 than it was in 1985.
Only about half of 12- to 17-year-olds perceive great risk of harm in having five or more drinks once or twice a week. Fifty-eight percent of the population reported that marijuana was easy to get. Thirty-nine percent reported that cocaine was easy to get. The percentages reporting that LSD, PCP and heroin were easy to get were 27 percent, 24 percent, and 26 percent, respectively.
In 1993, 8.7 percent of the population reported having been approached in the past month by someone selling drugs.
This survey was conducted from January through December, 1993. There were 2,500 respondents in each of six large metropolitan areas: New York, Washington DC, Miami, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. It included residents of households, shelters, rooming houses, dormitories and civilian housing on military bases. Persons excluded were the homeless not found in shelters, active military personnel and people in jail or hospitals. The survey incorporated varying selection probabilities which resulted in oversampling of blacks, Hispanics and young people in order to improve the reliability of estimates for those populations. In all, 26,489 persons were interviewed, plus the 2,500 residents of the six cities named.
The data collected suggest that the significant decline in the prevalence of illicit drug use that occurred throughout the 1980s did not occur in 1993. This may reflect a temporary interruption of the trend, a leveling off or the start of an upturn in drug use. Future surveys will answer this question.
The study did show an increase in drug use among eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders in 1993. It showed that drugs are easily accessible to young people. While young people today continue to initiate illicit drug use, they are doing so at much lower rates than young people in the 1970s (Gfoerer and Brodsky, 1992). Those people who were teenagers and young adults in the 1960s and 1970s are now older, and some of them may still be using drugs. Many of the drug users in this age group are believed to be the hard-core drug users. This may in part explain the increase in hospital emergency room episodes which are most likely to involve the hard-core user instead of the occasional user.
Rates of current and heavy alcohol use in the United States have changed little in the past several years, although there are signs that alcohol use may be increasing among youths.