II. America's Drug Use Profile
Drug Use Among Americans
he use of illicit drugs is one of the most serious problems facing American society. The devastation wrought by drugs plays a part in virtually every major social issue in America today, be it health care, crime, mental illness, the dissolution of families, child abuse, or the spread of disease. It is a problem of both domestic and international dimensions. Overseas, drug traffickers often ally with guerrillas or corrupt government officials to subvert the rule of law. Drug abuse and the trade it establishes rob honest men and women around the world of good government, crime-free lives, adequate medical systems and the fullness of human potential. Within our own borders, illegal drugs spread ruin and destroy human potential.
Fifty-six percent of Americans think that drug abuse is one of the top three most serious problems facing children in America.1 Many are troubled by youth drug use which, in recent years, has been on the rise. The most current data, however, indicate that this trend is flattening and, in some cases, reversing.Nevertheless, drug use by our young people today will, in some measure, translate into addiction tomorrow. We cannot afford to be less than vigilant.
Source: 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse |
The encouraging news is that overall drug use rates are about half of what they were in the late 1970s. In 1997 there were 13.9 million current users of any illicit drug in the total household population aged 12 and older, down from the peak year of 1979, when twenty-five million (or 14.1 percent of the population) abused illegal drugs.2 * The 13.9 million number represents 6.4 percent of the total population and is statistically unchanged from 1996.3 The most commonly abused drug is marijuana: sixty percent of these users abused marijuana only.4 But even with the dramatic drop in overall use, far too many Americans still use drugs. Thirty-six percent of those aged twelve and older have used an illegal drug in their lifetime. Of these, more than 90 percent used either marijuana or hashish and approximately 30 percent tried cocaine.5
Source: 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse |
Current rates of addiction are also very troubling. Today there are an estimated 4 million chronic drug users in America: 3.6 million chronic cocaine users (primarily crack cocaine) and 810,000 chronic heroin users.6 Most of them started using marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco in their youth and then moved on to heroin or cocaine. Addiction affects more than just addicts -- indeed, the families, friends, and employers of drug addicts are drained by the broken promises, deteriorating relationships, and lost productivity associated with addiction. Approximately 45 percent of Americans report knowing someone in their family or a close friend who used illegal drugs.7 Even those Americans who do not come into contact with users of illicit drugs are not exempt from the burden of drug abuse. All of us pay the toll in the form of higher health care costs, dangerous neighborhoods, and overcrowded criminal justice systems.
* A "current user" is an individual who consumed an illegal drug in the month prior to being interviewed.
