Press Release

NSDUH Resources SAMHSA Press Release Full Report

The following are highlights from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. All changes discussed below are statistically significant.

Drug Use in 2003

• An estimated 19.5 million (8.2%) Americans ages 12 and older were current illicit drug users—unchanged from 2002.
• Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug; 14.6 million (6.2% of the total population 12 and older;75% of all current users) were current users. An estimated 2.3 million Americans (1.0%) were current cocaine users, 604,000 of whom used crack. Heroin was used in the past month by an estimated 119,000 persons. An estimated 1 million Americans used hallucinogens in the past month. All of these prevalence rates were unchanged from 2002.
• Rates of current use were highest among young adults at 20.3 percent, followed by youths at 11.2 percent, and adults (26 and older) at 6.5 percent. All of these prevalence rates appear to be unchanged from 2002.
• Rates of current illicit drug use were highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (12.1%) and persons reporting two or more races (12.0%). Rates were 8.7 percent for African Americans, 8.3 percent for whites, and 8.0 percent for Hispanics; Asians had he lowest rate at 3.8 percent. These rates were unchanged from 2002.

Changes in Drug Use: 2002 to 2003

• Lifetime use of marijuana among youth decreased 5 percent, from 20.6 percent to 19.6 percent.
• Past year use of marijuana among young adults declined 4 percent (from 29.8% to 28.5%).
• Among youths aged 12 or 13, past month marijuana use declined 29 percent, from 1.4 percent to 1.0 percent.
• While daily use (on 300 on more days in the past year) of marijuana overall was unchanged from 2002, the number of youths using it on a daily basis dropped 21 percent, from 358,000 to 282,000. The number of youths using marijuana on 20 or more days in the past month also declined, from 603,000 to 482,000—a drop of 20 percent.
• Overall, the use of hallucinogens continued to fall. The number of past year users of hallucinogens (including ecstasy and LSD) among the population 12 and older declined 17 percent, from 4.7 million to 3.9 million. Lifetime and past year use of hallucinogens among youth was down 12 percent and 18 percent, respectively (from 5.7% to 5.0% and from 3.8% to 3.1%), while past year use of hallucinogens among young adults was down 20 percent (from 8.4% to 6.7%).
• With the exception of older adults (26 and older), the use of ecstasy continues to plummet. The number of current users of ecstasy 12 or older decreased by nearly a third (30%), from 676,000 (0.3%) to 470,000 (0.2%). The number of past year users also was down by one-third (34%)—from 3.2 million users to 2.1 million. With respect to age groups, lifetime and past year ecstasy use was down 27 percent and 41 percent, respectively among youth (from 3.3% to 2.4% and from 2.2% to 1.3%). Past year and current use among young adults each declined 36 percent (from 5.8% to 3.7% and from 1.1% to 0.7%). However, lifetime use of ecstasy among adults 26 and older increased 19 percent (from 2.6% to 3.1%)—reflecting the aging of the cohort from just a few years ago that had substantially higher rates of ecstasy use.
• LSD use also was down—the number of past year users aged 12 or older declined 44 percent, from 1 million to 558,000. Among youth past year use of LSD was down 54 percent (from 1.3% to 0.6%) and 39 percent among young adults (from 1.8% to 1.1%). Lifetime use of LSD among youth and young adults declined 40 percent and 12 percent, respectively (from 2.7% to 1.6% and from 15.9% to 14.0%).
• Past year use of methamphetamine among youth was down slightly, from 0.9 percent to 0.7 percent.
• The number of lifetime nonmedical users of pain relievers among persons 12 and older increased 5 percent, from 29.6 million to 31.2 million. Among young adults, the nonmedical lifetime and current use of any psychotherapeutics increased 5 percent and 11 percent, respectively (from 27.7% to 29.0% and from 5.4% to 6.0%). This increase in lifetime use was driven by increases in pain relievers (22.1% to 23.7%) and tranquilizers (11.2% to 12.3%). Also among young adults, current nonmedical use of pain relievers increased 15 percent, from 4.1 percent to 4.7 percent.
• Past month inhalant use among youths aged 16 or 17 increased from 0.6 percent to 1.0 percent.
• Past year use of stimulants among persons 12 and older declined slightly, from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent.

Initiation

• There were an estimated 2.6 million new marijuana users in 2002. From 1995 to 2002, initiates have ranged between 2.4 and 2.9 million per year.
• The number of initiates declined for both LSD (from 631,000 to 272,000; a 57% drop) and ecstasy (from 1.8 million to 1.1 million; a 39% drop), coinciding with an overall drop in hallucinogen incidence from 1.6 million to 1.1 million (31%)
• There was no change in the number of pain reliever initiates between 2001 and 2002; however, the number of pain reliever initiates has increased 336 percent since 1990.
• In 2002, approximately 1.1 million persons used cocaine for the first time—unchanged since 2000.
• The number of heroin initiates has remained fairly stable—from 1995 through 2002, the annual number of new heroin users ranged from 121,000 to 164,000.

Attitudes and Perceptions

• Among people 12 and older, the perception of great risk of using marijuana once a month increased 3 percent (from 38.3% to 39.6%). Increases also were seen for youth (8%, from 32.4% to 34.9%) and young adults (6%, from 23.5% to 24.8%).
• The increased perception of great risk of using marijuana once a month in 2003 was evident in youths aged 14 to 17 (including the key demographic for the Media Campaign of 14 to 15 years olds), in both male and female youths, and among youth in large and small metropolitan areas but not in nonmetropolitan areas.
• The perception of great risk in using marijuana once or twice a week increased overall and in all three age groups: 3 percent overall (from 51.3% to 52.8%); 6 percent amng youth (from 41.5% to 54.4%); 4 percent among young adults (from 35.5% to 36.8%); and 2 percent among older adults (from 54.1% to 55.4%).
• There were no statistically significant changes in the percentages of youths perceiving great risk in using cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and LSD.
• Among youths in 2003 who perceived that their parents would strongly disapprove of their using marijuana or hashish once or twice, 5.4 percent used marijuana in the past month, while among youths whose parents would not strongly disapprove, 28.7 percent used marijuana in the past month.
• The majority of youths in 2003 indicated that their parents would strongly disapprove if they used marijuana once or twice (89.4%) or if they used marijuana once a month or more (92.2%). These rates of perceived parental disapproval were similar to the rates observed in 2002.
• Perceived availability of marijuana and LSD declined among youth 3 percent and 9 percent, respectively (from 55.0% to 53.6% and from 19.4% to 17.6%). Perceived availability of LSD also was down among young adults 8 percent (from 28.9% to 26.7%).

Exposure to Prevention Messages and Programs (these indicators are for general exposure to prevention messages and programs rather than specific exposure to ONDCP's Media Campaign).

• In 2003, a majority of youths (83.6) reported having seen or heard alcohol or drug prevention messages outside of school in the past year. Youths who had seen or heard these messages had a lower prevalence of past month use of an illicit drug (10.8%) compared with youths who had not seen or heard these types of messages (13.7%). The percentage of youths exposed to these messages remained unchanged from 2002.
• In 2003, 78.1 percent of youths who were enrolled in school during the past 12 months reported having seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages in school. This was similar to the percentage reporting exposure to such messages in 2002. Of youths indicating they had seen or heard these messages, the rate of past month illicit drug use was 10.4 percent compared with 14.8 percent for youths who had not been exposed to prevention messages in school.

Drug Abuse and Dependence and Treatment

• An estimated 6.8 million persons age 12 or older in 2003 were classified with drug dependence or abuse according to DSM-IV criteria. An additional 500,000 persons received treatment in the past 12 months at a specialty treatment facility. A total of 7.3 million individual 12 or older in 2003 were in need of treatment for an illicit drug problem. This is statistically unchanged from the 7.7 million people needing treatment in 2002.
• In 2003, an estimated 1.1 million people (15% of those in need of treatment) received treatment at a specialty treatment facility—300,000 fewer than in 2002; this was a statistically significant decline.
• These numbers indicate that for 2003, there were an estimated 6.2 million people 12 or older who needed treatment but did not receive it—unchanged from the 6.3 million in 2002.
• Of the 6.2 million people who needed but did not receive specialty treatment in 2003, an estimated 426,000 (6.9%) reported that they felt they needed treatment for their illicit drug problem. Information on effort to receive treatment is not presented because of low precision.
• Of the 6.8 million persons classified with dependence or abuse of illicit drugs, 4.2 million were dependent on or abused marijuana—61.4 percent of all those classified with illicit drug dependence or abuse; similar to the percentage for 2002.

Alcohol and Tobacco

• An estimated 119 million (50.1%) Americans aged 12 or older were current drinkers of alcohol in 2003. About 54 million (22.6%) participated in binge drinking at least once in the past 30 days, and 16.1 million (6.8%) were heavy drinkers. These 2003 numbers are all similar to the corresponding estimates for 2002.
• In 2001, the most recent year for which alcohol incidence estimates were made, an estimated 5.3 million Americans used alcohol for the first time.
• An estimated 70.8 million Americans (29.8%) 12 or older reported current use of a tobacco product in 2003—unchanged from 2002.
• In 2001, the most recent year for which cigarette incidence estimates are made, an estimated 2.7 million Americans aged 12 or older used cigarettes for the first time—this is down 18 percent from the recent peak in 1997 of 3.3 million.
• Lifetime and past year use of any tobacco and cigarettes decreased among youth. Lifetime and past year use of any tobacco product declined 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively (from 36.8% to 34.5% and from 23.6% to 22.5%). Lifetime and past year use of cigarettes declined 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively (from 33.3% to 31.0% and from 20.3% to 19.0%).