Results from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings
Date: October 10, 2006
This report presents the first information from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The survey is the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. The survey interviews approximately 67,500 persons each year. Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons in this report described using terms such as "increased," "decreased," or "more than" are statistically significant at the .05 level.
Illicit Drug Use
In 2005, an estimated 19.7 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview. This estimate represents 8.1 percent of the population aged 12 years old or older. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or prescription-type psychotherapeutics used nonmedically.
The rate of current illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older in 2005 (8.1 percent) was similar to the rate in 2004 (7.9 percent), 2003 (8.2 percent), and 2002 (8.3 percent).
Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug (14.6 million past month users). Among persons aged 12 or older, the rate of past month marijuana use was about the same in 2005 (6.0 percent) as in 2004 (6.1 percent), 2003 (6.2 percent), and 2002 (6.2 percent).
In 2005, there were 2.4 million current cocaine users aged 12 or older, which is more than in 2004 when the number was 2.0 million. However, the change in the rate of current use of cocaine between 2005 and 2004 (1.0 and 0.8 percent, respectively) was not statistically significant.
Hallucinogens were used in the past month by 1.1 million persons (0.4 percent) aged 12 or older in 2005, including 502,000 (0.2 percent) who had used Ecstasy. These estimates are similar to the corresponding estimates for 2004.
There were 6.4 million (2.6 percent) persons aged 12 or older who used prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically in the past month. Of these, 4.7 million used pain relievers, 1.8 million used tranquilizers, 1.1 million used stimulants (including 512,000 using methamphetamine), and 272,000 used sedatives. Each of these estimates is similar to the corresponding estimate for 2004.
The rates for past month and past year methamphetamine use did not change between 2004 and 2005, but the lifetime rate declined from 4.9 to 4.3 percent. From 2002 to 2005, decreases were seen in lifetime (5.3 to 4.3 percent) and past year (0.7 to 0.5 percent) use, but not past month use (0.3 percent in 2002 vs. 0.2 percent in 2005). Although the number of past month users has remained steady since 2002, the number of methamphetamine users who were dependent on or abused some illicit drug did rise significantly during this period, from 164,000 in 2002 to 257,000 in 2005.
The rate of current illicit drug use among youths aged 12 to 17 in 2005 was similar to the rate in 2004, but significantly lower than in 2002. The rates were 11.6 percent in 2002, 11.2 percent in 2003, 10.6 percent in 2004, and 9.9 percent in 2005.
The rate of current marijuana use among youths aged 12 to 17 declined from 7.6 percent in 2004 to 6.8 percent in 2005. The rate of current marijuana use has declined significantly from 8.2 percent in 2002.
There were no significant changes in past month use of any illicit drugs among young adults aged 18 to 25 between 2004 and 2005, except for cocaine use, which increased from 2.1 to 2.6 percent.
Past month nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs among young adults aged 18 to 25 increased from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 6.3 percent in 2005. This was primarily due to an increase in pain reliever use, which was 4.1 percent in 2002 and 4.7 percent in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Among unemployed adults aged 18 or older in 2005, 17.1 percent were current illicit drug users, which was higher than the 8.2 percent of those employed full time and 10.4 percent of those employed part time. However, most drug users were employed. Of the 17.2 million current illicit drug users aged 18 or older in 2005, 12.9 million (74.8 percent) were employed either full or part time.
In 2005, there were 10.5 million persons aged 12 or older who reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. This corresponds to 4.3 percent of the population aged 12 or older, similar to the rates in 2003 (4.6 percent) and 2004 (4.4 percent), but lower than the rate in 2002 (4.7 percent). In 2005, the rate was highest among young adults aged 18 to 25 (13.4 percent).
NSDUH includes questions for nonmedical users of prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs regarding how they obtained the drugs they recently used nonmedically. In 2005, the most prevalent source from which recently used drugs were obtained among nonmedical users of prescription-type drugs was "from a friend or relative for free."
Among persons aged 12 or older who used pain relievers nonmedically in the past 12 months, 59.8 percent reported that the source of the drug the most recent time they used was from a friend or relative for free. Another 16.8 percent reported they got the drug from one doctor. Only 4.3 percent got the pain relievers from a drug dealer or other stranger, and only 0.8 percent reported buying the drug on the Internet.
Alcohol Use
Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2005 survey (51.8 percent). This translates to an estimated 126 million people, which is higher than the 2004 estimate of 121 million people (50.3 percent).
More than one fifth (22.7 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking (having five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the 30 days prior to the survey) in 2005. This translates to about 55 million people, comparable with the estimate in 2004.
In 2005, heavy drinking was reported by 6.6 percent of the population aged 12 or older, or 16 million people. This rate is similar to the rate of heavy drinking in 2004 (6.9 percent). Heavy drinking is defined as binge drinking on at least 5 days in the past 30 days.
In 2005, among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate of binge drinking was 41.9 percent, and the rate of heavy drinking was 15.3 percent. These rates are similar to the rates in 2002, 2003, and 2004.
The rate of current alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 declined from 17.6 percent in 2004 to 16.5 percent in 2005. Youth binge drinking also declined during that period, from 11.1 to 9.9 percent, but heavy drinking did not change significantly (2.7 percent in 2004 and 2.4 percent in 2005).
Although there were declines in past month and binge alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 between 2004 and 2005, overall underage (persons aged 12 to 20) past month and binge drinking rates have remained essentially unchanged since 2002. In 2005, about 10.8 million persons aged 12 to 20 (28.2 percent of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Nearly 7.2 million (18.8 percent) were binge drinkers, and 2.3 million (6.0 percent) were heavy drinkers.
Among persons aged 12 to 20, past month alcohol use rates were 12.0 percent among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 15.5 percent among Asians, 19.0 percent among blacks, 21.7 percent among American Indians or Alaska Natives, 24.0 percent among those reporting two or more races, 25.9 percent among Hispanics, and 32.3 percent among whites.
In 2005, an estimated 13.0 percent of persons aged 12 or older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. This percentage has dropped since 2002, when it was 14.2 percent. The 2005 estimate corresponds to 31.7 million persons.