II. America's Drug Use Profile

An estimated 13.6 million Americans twelve years of age and older were current users of any illegal drug in 1998.^* This number is slightly less than the 13.9 million estimate for 1997. Drug use reached peak levels in 1979 when 25.4 million percent of the population age twelve and over were current users. This figure declined significantly between 1985 and 1992, from 23.3 million to twelve million. Current use rates increased from twelve million in 1992 to thirteen million in 1996. Since 1996, the number of current users remained steady, with statistically insignificant changes occurring each year. An estimated 5 million people met diagnostic criteria for dependence on illegal drugs in 1997 and 1998, including 1.1 million youths between the ages of twelve and seventeen.¹

In 1998, There Were 13.6 Million Current (Past-Month)
Users of Illicit Drugs

Source: 1999 Monitoring the Future Study

Drug use affects all Americans. More than half of our citizens (53 percent) say their concern about drug use has increased over the past five years; alarm is growing most in minority and low-income communities.² In 1999, a study by the National League of Cities cited use of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among youth as one of the top threats to America in the new millennium.³ Even citizens who do not come into contact with illegal drug users share the burden of drug abuse. All of us pay the toll in the form of higher health-care costs, dangerous neighborhoods, and an overcrowded criminal justice system.

Current Drug-Use Rates

Source: SAMHSA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (various years)

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^* The term “drug” is defined in the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization (21 USC 1701) as: “the meaning given the term ‘controlled substance’ in section 102(6) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 USC 8 02(6)).” Current use is defined as consumption of a controlled substance at least once within the previous thirty days.

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