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The NHSDA Report:  Substance Use Among Older Adults

Highlights:

• In 2000, an estimated 568,000 persons aged 55 or older had used illicit drugs in the past month and over 5 million were "binge" alcohol users, including more than 1 million who were heavy alcohol users.

• Among older adults, whites had higher rates of past month illicit drug use compared with Hispanics and higher rates of past month alcohol use compared with either blacks or Hispanics.

• The number of illicit drug users among older adults is likely to increase in the coming years due to the aging of the "baby boom" generation.

Figure: Percentages of Adults Aged 55 or Older Reporting Past Month Use of Any Illicit Drug, "Binge" Alcohol Use, or Heavy Alcohol Use, by Age Group: 2000

 

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This Short Report,  The NHSDA Report:  Substance Use Among Older Adults is based on SAMHSA's  National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA),conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older. The NHSDA also provides estimates for drug use by state.