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SAMHSA Survey Indicates Need to Target Youth

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala recently released findings of SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which provides annual estimates of the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use and monitors trends in use over time. Between 1996 and 1997, illicit drug use remained level among the overall population but showed a marked increase among 12- to 17-year-olds, mostly due to higher rates of marijuana use. The survey’s principal findings regarding this young age group include the following:

• Current use of illicit drugs (use during the 30 days prior to the interview) increased from 9.0 percent in 1996 to 11.4 percent in 1997. Except for 1996, illicit drug use among youth has steadily increased since 1992.
• Current use of marijuana increased from 7.1 percent in 1996 to 9.4 percent in 1997. Marijuana use among youth has almost tripled from 1992 to 1997.
• Current drug use among 12- to 13-year-olds increased from 2.2 to 3.8 percent.
• The percentage of youth reporting that they perceived a risk from smoking marijuana once or twice a week decreased from 57.1 to 54 percent.
• The number of current smokers remained essentially the same, although there was a significant increase (from 7.3 to 9.7 percent) among 12- and 13-year-olds.
• Youth who currently smoked cigarettes were about 12 times as likely as nonsmoking youth to use illicit drugs and 23 times as likely to drink heavily.
• In 1997, more than half of 12- to 17-year olds reported that marijuana was easy to obtain. About 21 percent reported that heroin was easy to obtain.
• Fifteen percent of youth reported being approached by someone selling drugs during the 30 days prior to the interview.

Regarding the population as a whole, the survey found that an estimated 13.9 million Americans were current users of illicit drugs in 1997, slightly more than the estimated 13.0 million in 1996. There was no statistically significant change in the number of cocaine users between 1996 and 1997, but heroin use has steadily increased over the past few years.

The annual survey is based on a representative sample of the U.S. population aged 12 and older. In 1997, 24,505 persons were interviewed. Next year, SAMHSA will expand the sample to provide information about substance abuse at the State level. Beginning in 1999, the survey will support 70,000 interviews each year, up from 18,000 to 25,000 in previous years. Preliminary results are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.samhsa.gov.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov

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