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Statistics
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Drugs and Crime
Facts Drug use
Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Department of Justice
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs
Page last revised on June 21, 2000
Use
Perceived
risk
Student
reports of availability of drugs
Use
The Monitoring
the Future Study asked high school seniors, "On how many occasions,
if any, have you used drugs or alcohol during the last 12 months or
30 days?"
Reported
drug and alcohol use by high school seniors, 1999
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Used
within the last: |
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Drugs |
12
months* |
30
days |
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| Alcohol |
73.8 |
%
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51.0 |
%
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| Marijuana |
37.8 |
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23.1 |
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| Stimultants |
10.2 |
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4.5 |
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| Hallucinogens |
9.4 |
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3.5 |
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| Other
opiates |
6.7 |
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2.6 |
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| Sedatives |
6.3 |
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2.8 |
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| Cocaine |
6.2 |
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2.6 |
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| Tranquilizers |
5.8 |
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2.5 |
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| Inhalants |
5.6 |
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2.0 |
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| Steroids |
1.8 |
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0.9 |
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| Heroin |
1.1 |
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0.5 |
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*Including the last 30 days.
Source: University of Michigan, Drug Use from
the Monitoring the Future Study, December 1999,
press release. |
Self-reports of drug use among high school seniors may under represent
drug use among youth of that age because high school dropouts and truants
are not included, and these groups may have more involvement with drugs
than those who stay in school.
Percent
of all college students, 1988-98
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Drug use |
1988
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1989
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1990
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1991
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1992
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1993
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1994
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1995
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1996
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1997
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1998
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| Marijuana |
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| Daily
within last month |
1.8 |
% |
2.6 |
% |
1.7 |
% |
1.8 |
% |
1.6 |
% |
1.9 |
% |
1.8 |
% |
3.7 |
% |
2.8 |
% |
3.7 |
% |
4.0 |
% |
| Last
month |
16.8 |
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16.3 |
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14.0 |
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14.1 |
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14.6 |
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14.2 |
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15.1 |
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18.6 |
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17.5 |
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17.7 |
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18.6 |
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| Last
year |
34.6 |
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33.6 |
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29.4 |
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26.5 |
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27.7 |
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27.9 |
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29.3 |
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31.2 |
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33.1 |
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31.6 |
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35.9 |
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Cocaine |
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| Daily
within last month |
0.1 |
% |
*
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0.0 |
% |
*
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0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.1 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
| Last
month |
4.2 |
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2.8 |
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1.2 |
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1.0 |
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1.0 |
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0.7 |
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0.6 |
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0.7 |
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0.8 |
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1.6 |
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1.7 |
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| Last
year |
10.0 |
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8.2 |
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5.6 |
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3.6 |
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3.0 |
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2.7 |
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2.0 |
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3.6 |
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2.9 |
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3.4 |
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4.6 |
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* Less than 0.05% |
Rates of cocaine use by college students over the previous 5 years had
varied between 3.0% of all students in 1992 to 4.6% in 1998, and marijuana
use ranged from 27.7% in 1992 to 35.9% in 1998.
Source: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Survey
Results
on Drug Use from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-98 as reported
in the BJS Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1998,
NCJ 176356.
Of 1999 high school
seniors --
49.7% reported
having ever used marijuana/hashish
9.8% reported having
ever used cocaine
2.0% reported having
ever used heroin.
Source: University of Michigan, The Monitoring the Future Study,
December 1999, press release.
1999
high school seniors reporting they could obtain drugs fairly
easily or very easily
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| Marijuana |
88.9 |
%
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| Amphetamines
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58.1 |
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| Cocaine
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47.6 |
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| LSD
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44.7 |
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| Crack
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41.1 |
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| Barbiturate
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37.9 |
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| Tranquilizers
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32.7 |
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| Heroin
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32.1 |
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| Crystal
methamphetamine (ice) |
27.6 |
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| PCP
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26.7 |
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| Amyl/butyl
nitrates |
21.4 |
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Source: University of Michigan, the Monitoring
the Future Study,
December 1999, press release. |
The increase
in the use of marijuana has been especially pronounced. Between 1991
and 1998, past-month use of marijuana increased from:
- 14% to 23%
among high school seniors.
- 9% to 19% among
10th graders.
- 3% to 10% among
8th graders.
Reported use of marijuana
by high school seniors during the past month peaked in 1978 at 37% and
declined to its lowest level in 1992 at 12%.
The use of cocaine within the past month of the survey by high school
seniors peaked in 1985 at 6.7%, up from 1.9% in 1975 at the survey's
inception. Cocaine use declined to a low of 1.3% in 1992 and 1993. In
1998, 2.4% of high school seniors reported past-month cocaine use.
Source: The Monitoring the Future Study as presented in the ONDCP Fact
Sheet: Drug Use Trends, June 1999.
Cocaine use among
high school seniors peaked in 1985.
Click
on the chart to view the data.
Source: University of Michigan, The Monitoring the Future Study,
December 1999, press release.
Perceived
risk
From 1984 to
1999 the percentage of high school seniors that were asked, "How
much do you think people risk harming themselves?" remained virtually
stable. Those students answering "great risk" in regular
use accounted for the following --
Click on the
chart to view the data.
Source: University of Michigan, The Monitoring the Future
Study, December 1999, press release.
Student
reports of availability of drugs
In 1995 and 1997,
almost one-third of all students in grade 9 through 12 (32%) reported
someone had offered, sold, or given them an illegal drug on school
property. This was an increase from 1993 when (24%) of such students
reported illegal drugs available to them on school property.
Between 1993 and
1995, males and females reported that illegal drugs were made available
to them on school property increased. Males were more likely than
females to report that drugs were offered, sold, or given to them
on school property. In 1997, males (37%) and females (25%) reported
availability of drugs.
Source: BJS
jointly with the U.S. Department of Education, Indicators
of School Crime and Safety, 1999, NCJ 178906, September
1999.
In 1989, 63.2%
of students ages 12 through 19 reported that marijuana, cocaine, crack,
or upper/downers were available at school, according to data in the
National Crime Victimization Survey School Crime Supplement. That
percentage increased somewhat to 65.3% in 1995.
In 1995 the availability of drugs was reported more often by --
- public schools
students (67.2%) than by private school students (48.0%)
- students in
higher grades were more likely than students in lower grades in
both 1989 and 1995
Similar rates of
drug availability were reported by --
- white students
(68%) and black students (67%)
- students residing
in cities (67%), suburban areas (68%), and nonmetropolitan areas
(65%).
Source: BJS,
1989 and 1995 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization
Survey: Students Report of School Crime, NCJ 169607,
March 1998.
To the top
General
population
According to
data from the preliminary 1998 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration
(SAMHSA) National Household Survey on Drug Abuse --
- 78 million
Americans age 12 or older (36% of the population) reported illicit
drug use at least once in their lifetime
- 11% reported
use of a drug within the past year
- 6% reported
use of a drug within the past month.
Data from the 1998
survey showed that marijuana and cocaine use is the most prevalent among
ages 18 to 34.
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Age
of respondent, 1998 |
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35 or |
| Drug
use |
12-17
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18-25
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26-34
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older
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| Marijuana
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Last
month |
8.3 |
% |
13.8 |
% |
5.5 |
% |
2.5 |
% |
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Last
year |
14.1 |
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24.1 |
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9.7 |
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4.1 |
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Cocaine |
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Last
month |
0.8 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
1.2 |
% |
0.5 |
% |
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Last
year |
1.7 |
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4.7 |
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2.7 |
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0.9 |
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Source: SAMHSA,
Office of Applied Studies, 1998 National Household Survey
on Drug Abuse, August 1999.
Another measure of
drug use in the general population is the number of drug-related emergency
room episodes and drug-related deaths. In 1998 the SAMHSA Drug
Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) reported 542,544 drug-related episodes
in hospital emergency departments nationwide, an increase from the 518,521
reported in 1994.
Click on the
chart to view the data.
From 1995 to
1998 cocaine was the most common drug reported in emergency department
episodes.
Total
number of drug mentions in drug
abuse-related emergency department episodes, by type of drug,
1995-98 |
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Cocaine |
Heroin
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Marijuana
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| 1995 |
135,801 |
70,838 |
45,271 |
| 1996
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152,433 |
73,846 |
53,789 |
| 1997
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161,087 |
72,010 |
64,744 |
| 1998 |
172,014 |
77,645 |
76,870 |
Source: U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, Office of Applied
Studies, Year-End 1998 Emergency Department Data from the
Drug Abuse Warning Network.
The total of
9,743 deaths related to drug abuse were reported in 1997 by 145 medical
examiners in 42 metropolitan areas involving 24,162 drug mentions.
Drug abuse deaths usually involve drug overdoses, but they also include
deaths in which drug usage was a contributory factor.
Source: U. S. Department
of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, Drug
Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Annual Medical Examiner Data 1997.
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