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Date:  Tuesday, Aug. 20, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  SAMHSA Press Office, (301) 443-8956

NATIONAL DRUG SURVEY RESULTS RELEASED

The illicit drug use rate among the overall U.S. population remained flat from 1994 to 1995, according to the 1995 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). In 1995, an estimated 12.8 million Americans were current illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug in the month prior to interview. That is not a statistically significant change from 1994, when the estimate was 12.6 million. The number of illicit drug users is about half its peak in 1979, when there were 25 million current users.

The number of emergency room visits for drug-related reasons also remained flat from 1994 to 1995, according to the 1995 Drug Abuse Warning Network report (DAWN). The DAWN report records drug-related emergency department episodes, not drug use rates.

The National Household Survey did find increases in past month drug use among young people aged 12-17 in 1995, primarily in marijuana use, which increased from 6.0 percent in 1994 to 8.2 percent in 1995. This upward trend for 1995 is consistent with the increase reported in the 1995 Monitoring the Future Survey, which was released last December. Data for the Monitoring the Future Survey, which surveys drug use by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, indicate the increase in marijuana use among 8th graders began in 1991. Data on 12-17 year olds from the National Household Survey indicate the upward trend began in 1992. The Monitoring the Future Survey also shows that student disapproval rates for marijuana began to decline in 1990.

Commenting on the survey, HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said, "Drug, alcohol and tobacco use by young people is a poison in the well of our national future. We have a comprehensive strategy to get rid of the poison and protect our future. We're working with the PTA to help parents teach their children about the great danger of drugs. We're working with Weekly Reader and Scholastic magazines to get new anti-drug materials into the classrooms. We're working with the entertainment industry and the Partnership for a Drug Free America to de-glamorize drugs and re-glamorize opportunity. We're working with gold medal Olympians from the U.S. Women's Soccer team to prevent youth smoking."

Secretary Shalala added, "But none of us can afford to forget that youth substance abuse is an American problem -- not a government problem -- and it's going to take the leadership of citizens and communities all across the country, from every region and every walk of life, and especially from parents, to save our children."

White House Drug Policy Director General Barry McCaffrey (Ret) said, "We must not allow drug use by young Americans to return to the disastrous levels of the 1970's and early 1980's. That would be a tragedy. That is why reducing the use of illegal drugs by youth is Goal Number One in the National Drug Control Strategy. Parents, school teachers, ministers, and local anti- drug coalitions must carry the message to American young people that drugs are destructive of human physical, mental, and moral wellness."

Secretary Shalala and Director McCaffrey drew attention to HHS's new "Reality Check" campaign, launched six weeks ago at the national PTA's 100th anniversary convention, aimed at rolling back the upsurge in youth marijuana use. As a part of that campaign, parents and other adults can call a toll-free hotline (1-800-729-6686) to obtain the free publication, "Keeping Youth Drug-Free," endorsed by the PTA, designed to help them send clear no-use messages to their children, or go on-line to the web site at www.health.org/reality.

"Locally-designed, locally-led prevention and treatment efforts are critical to our success," General McCaffrey said. "For that reason, we ask the Senate to provide full funding of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's FY 97 budget, and we ask the House of Representatives to reconsider the proposed cut of $184 million from the President's request for SAMHSA's FY 97 budget and restore those funds during Conference on the Labor/HHS Appropriations Bill. These deep cuts would effectively end Federal support for development of new techniques and approaches for substance abuse prevention and treatment. Now more than ever, we need a strong commitment to drug prevention and treatment."

Dr. Nelba Chavez, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), said, "Marijuana use damages short-term memory, distorts perception, impairs judgment and complex motor skills, alters the heart rate, can lead to severe anxiety, and can cause paranoia and lethargy. Young users are more likely to use other illicit drugs and less likely to achieve their academic potential. Marijuana use is illegal, dangerous, and wrong: Families need to talk about that."

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which is conducted by SAMHSA, annually provides estimates of the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in the U.S. and monitors the trends in use over time. It is based on a representative sample of the U.S. population aged 12 and older, including persons living in households and in some group quarters such as dormitories and homeless shelters. Additional findings:

  • The number of occasional cocaine users remained at 2.5 million in 1995, a sharp decline from 7.1 million in 1985.

  • An estimated 61 million Americans were current cigarette smokers in 1995, including an estimated 4.5 million adolescents aged 12-17. This represents a national smoking rate of 29 percent.

  • An estimated 2.3 million people started using marijuana in 1994. The annual number of new users of marijuana has risen every year since 1991.

  • Among youth aged 12-17, there was a significant increase in past month illicit drug use, from 8.2 percent in 1994 to 10.9 percent in 1995. This includes increases in cocaine use (from 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent) and hallucinogen use (from 1.1 percent to 1.7 percent) between 1994 and 1995.

  • No statistically significant change in the rate of lifetime heroin use was reported from 1994 (1.0 percent) to 1995 (1.2 percent). However, the survey indicates a significant increase in the rate of heroin smoking from 0.3 percent in 1994 to 0.7 percent in 1995.

  • There were about 10 million current alcohol (including beer, wine, and distilled spirits) drinkers under age 21 in 1995. Of these, 4.4 million were binge drinkers, including 1.7 million heavy drinkers.

    The Drug Abuse Warning Network report, also conducted by SAMHSA, provides information on the impact of drug use on hospital emergency departments in the U.S. It reports the number of episodes in which visits to the emergency department were directly related to the use of an illegal drug or the non-medical use of a legal drug, including suicide attempts. DAWN is not a measure of prevalence of use. Highlights from DAWN include:

  • In 1995, there were 531,800 drug-related hospital emergency department episodes, which is not a statistically significant change from 1994 (518,500).

  • There was no change in the number of cocaine-related episodes between 1994 (142,900) and 1995 (142,500).

  • Between 1994 and 1995, heroin-related episodes rose by 19 percent (from 64,000 to 76,000) to their highest level since the DAWN survey began. Fifty-five percent of heroin episodes in 1995 occurred in persons age 35 and older. The aging of drug-using populations is one of the possible reasons for increases in emergency room episodes.

  • Between 1994 and 1995, marijuana/hashish-related emergency department episodes -- which usually involve use in combination with alcohol or other illicit drugs -- rose from 40,200 to 47,100, an increase of 17 percent.

  • In 1995, 40 percent of total drug-related episodes occurred among persons aged 35 years and over, and 28 percent of episodes occurred among persons aged 26-34.

  • The most commonly reported motive for taking a substance was "suicide attempt or gesture" (203,600) which comprised 38 percent of all episodes in 1995. "Dependence" (174,600) and "recreational use" (46,900) were reported as motives in 33 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of all episodes.

    SAMHSA is the federal government's lead agency on substance abuse and mental health illness prevention and treatment, and is one of the Public Health Service agencies in HHS. Information and materials are available from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), at 1-800-729-6686, or by going on-line to the NCADI web site at www.health.org.

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