News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 9, 2004 |
Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
(240) 276-2130
|
Nation's Youth Turning Away from Marijuana, as Perceptions of Risk Rise; Most Adults with Substance Abuse Problems Are Employed
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today that there is a
five percent decline in lifetime use of marijuana among American
youth between the ages of 12 and 17. Current use of marijuana
plummeted nearly 30 percent among 12 and 13 year olds. The findings
were included in the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
released today at the annual Recovery Month press conference.
The findings, released by HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), show that while overall,
the change in the category “current use of any illicit
drug” was not statistically significant, the use of some
drugs decreased sharply. For youth, 12-17, past year use of
Ecstasy and LSD dropped precipitously, by 41 percent for Ecstasy
and 54 percent for LSD. Overall, 19.5 million Americans ages
12 and older, 8 percent of this population, currently use illicit
drugs. The data indicate that of the 16.7 million adult users
(18 and older) of illicit drugs in 2003, about 74 percent were
employed either full time or part time.
“It is encouraging news that more American youths are getting
the message that drugs are dangerous,” Secretary Thompson
said. “But President Bush recognizes that we as a nation must
do more to ensure that our children don’t use drugs in the
first place and to help Americans get the treatment for alcohol and
drug addiction that they need.”
President Bush’s fiscal year 2005 budget request includes a 5
percent increase for substance abuse treatment, prevention and
research, including a doubling of the funding for the Access to
Recovery treatment program. President Bush is requesting $200
million for Access to Recovery, which provides vouchers to
individuals to access drug- and alcohol-abuse treatment programs.
With the doubling of the budget, Access to Recovery would help
100,000 people who want to obtain drug and alcohol treatment
services but can’t afford them.
“The prevention efforts of millions of parents, educators,
and community leaders are working. Young people are getting
the message that marijuana, which is substantially more potent
today than it was 20 years ago, is a dangerous drug, and they are
increasingly staying away from it,” said John Walters,
Director of National Drug Control Policy. “These new
data reaffirm the critical roles parents and anti-drug advertising
play in keeping our children safer, healthier, and
drug-free.”
SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie said: “Employers who think
alcohol and drug abuse will never be a problem in their workplace
need to consider that more than three quarters of adults who have
serious drug and or alcohol problems are employed.
Encouraging employees to find help when they need
it can result in fewer accidents and fewer workers absent on Monday
morning. It may even save an employee’s life, family,
or job. Creating a drug-free workplace program or enhancing
an existing
program can lead to a healthier, more productive work force and be
an important part of solving one of our nation’s most
persistent problems.”
The survey found that of the 19.4 million adults (age 18 and over)
characterized with abuse of or dependence on alcohol or drugs (19.4
million) in 2003, 14.9 million (77 percent) were employed either
full or part time. This amounts to over ten percent of
full-time workers as well as over ten percent of part-time workers.
Marijuana
Marijuana continues to be the most commonly used illicit drug, with
14.6 million current users (6.2 percent of the population).
The study shows that there were an estimated 2.6 million new
marijuana users in 2002. About two thirds of these new users
were under age 18, and about half were female.
An important positive change detected by the survey was an increase
in the perception of risk in using marijuana once a month or more
frequently. Both youth and young adults reported a
significant increase in their awareness of the risks of smoking
marijuana. Particularly striking was the 20 percent decline
between 2002 and 2003 in the number of youth that were
“heavy users” of marijuana (those smoking either daily
or 20 or more days per month). Perceived availability of the
drug also declined significantly among youth.
The results of this year’s survey demonstrate that anti-drug
messages inside and outside of school, participation in religious
and other activities, parental disapproval of substance use and
positive attitudes about school are linked to lower rates of youth
marijuana use. For example, those exposed to anti-drug
messages outside of school had rates of current marijuana use that
were 25 percent lower than those not reporting such exposure (7.5
percent vs. 10.0 percent). Youth who believe that their
parents would “strongly disapprove” of marijuana had
use rates fully 80 percent lower than those who reported that their
parents would not “strongly disapprove” (5.4 percent
vs. 28.7 percent).
Alcohol
The numbers of binge and heavy drinkers did not change between 2002
and 2003. About 54 million Americans ages 12 and older
participated in binge drinking at least once in the 30 days prior
to being surveyed. These people had five or more drinks on
one or more occasion in the past month. There were 16.1
million heavy drinkers, who had five or more drinks on five or more
occasions in the past month. The highest prevalence of binge
and heavy drinking in 2003 was among young adults ages 18-25, with
both binge and heavy drinking at their peak at age 21.
There were 10.9 million drinkers under legal age (ages 12-20) in
the month prior to the survey interview in 2003. This is 29
percent of this age group. Of these, nearly 7.2 million (19.2
percent) were binge drinkers and 2.3 million (6.1 percent) were
heavy drinkers.
Drunk driving declined from the 2002 survey, but drugged driving
remained similar to that reported in the 2002 survey. An
estimated 13.6 percent of persons aged 12 or older drove under the
influence of alcohol at least once in the 12 months prior to their
interviews (32.3 million people) in 2003, a decrease from 14.2
percent (33.5 million) in 2002. An estimated 10.9 million
persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug
during the past year. This is 4.6 percent of the population
ages 12 and older.
Prescription Drug Abuse
Against the backdrop of generally good news, the non-medical
lifetime use of prescription pain relievers showed a five percent
increase for the population 12 and older, with young adults (18-25)
experiencing a 15 percent increase in lifetime, as well as current
use. Over all, current use of prescription pain relievers
non-medically remained stable from 2002-2003. There was a
statistically significant increase in lifetime non-medical use of
Vicodin, Lortab, or Lorcet from 13.1 million to 15.7 million.
Percocet, Percodan, or Tylox misuse in a lifetime increased from
13.1 million to 15.7 million people. Hydrocodone lifetime
non-medical use increased from 4.5 million people to 5.7 million;
OxyContin lifetime misuse increased from 1.9 million people to 2.8
million; non-medical methadone use increased from 0.9 million to
1.2 million; and non-medical use of Tramadol increased from 52,000
to 186,000 from 2002 to 2003.
Estimates for persons who currently used psychotherapeutic drugs
taken non-medically are similar in 2003 to estimates for
2002. There were 6.3 million persons currently using
prescription medications non-medically in 2003, about 2.7 percent
of the population ages 12 or older. Of these, an estimated
4.7 million used prescription pain relievers; 1.8 million used
tranquilizers; 1.2 million used stimulants, including
methamphetamine; and 0.3 million used sedatives.
Other Drugs of Abuse
There were an estimated 2.3 million persons who currently used
cocaine in 2003, 604,000 of whom used crack. One million
persons used hallucinogens, including LSD, PCP, Ecstasy and other
substances, and 119,000 people were estimated to currently use
heroin. These projections are all similar to estimates for
these drugs in 2002. But, past month inhalant use among youth
ages 16 or 17 increased from 0.6 percent in 2002 to 1.0 percent in
2003. Methamphetamine use did not change significantly
between 2002 and 2003, with 600,000 past month users each year.
The survey reported 21.6 million Americans in 2003 classified with
dependence on drugs, alcohol, or both (9.1 percent of the
population ages 12 and older). Over 20 million persons needed
but did not receive treatment for an alcohol or drug problem in
2002 and 2003, but the number receiving specialized substance abuse
treatment declined from 2.3 million in 2002 to 1.9 million in
2003. Of the 20 million people in need of treatment in 2003
who did not receive it, about 1 million recognized that need.
Only 273,000 tried to obtain treatment and were unable to access
it. The other 764,000 made no effort to get treatment.
Serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
The report found a major correlation between serious mental illness
and substance dependence and abuse. In 2003, an estimated 4.2
million adults suffered from serious mental illness and substance
dependence or abuse in the past year. Adults who used illicit
drugs were more than twice as likely to have serious mental
illness, compared to adults who did not use an illicit drug.
In 2003, 18.1 percent of
adult past-year users of illicit drugs had serious mental illness
that year, while the rate was 7.8 percent among adults who had not
used an illicit drug. Among adults with substance dependence
or abuse, 21.6 percent had serious mental illness, compared to 8.0
percent among those who did not have dependence or abuse.
Among adults with serious mental illness in 2003, 21.3 percent (4.2
million people) were dependent on or abused alcohol or illicit
drugs. The rate among adults without serious mental illness
was only 7.9 percent.
Tobacco
Tobacco use rates in the past month remained essentially the same
from 2002 to 2003, with 70.8 million people reporting current use
of a tobacco product. Of these, 60.4 million smoked
cigarettes in the past month, 12.8 million smoked cigars, 7.7
million used smokeless tobacco and 1.6 million smoked tobacco in
pipes. There were significant declines in past year and
lifetime cigarette use among youths ages 12 to 17 between 2002 and
2003, and a decline in the rate of cigarette smoking among young
females.
The 2003 survey is based on interviews with 67,784 respondents ages
12 and older who were interviewed in their homes. This
includes persons residing in dormitories or homeless
shelters. Not included in the survey are persons on active
military duty, in prisons, or other institutionalized populations
or people who are homeless but not in shelters.
Recovery Month is observed in September to recognize the
accomplishments of people in recovery, the contributions of
treatment providers, and advances in substance abuse
treatment. This year is the 15th annual
observance. The theme, “Join the Voices for
Recovery…Now!” emphasizes that addiction to alcohol
and drugs is a chronic, but treatable, public health problem that
affects everyone in the community.
HHS agencies -- including SAMHSA, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
-- play a key role in the administration's substance abuse
strategy, leading the federal government's programs in drug
abuse research and funding programs and campaigns aimed at
prevention and treatment, particularly programs designed for youth.
An HHS fact sheet with more information is available at
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/. Other background and
resources are available at the Web sites for SAMHSA
(http://www.samhsa.gov), CDC (http://www.cdc.gov),
NIDA (http://www.nida.nih.gov) and NIAAA
(www.niaaa.nih.gov).
Findings from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health are
available on the Web at www.oas.samhsa.gov
###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: September 10, 2004
|