Office of National Drug Control Policy -- 2003 National Drug Control Strategy

Drug Use

Table 10. Trends in Harmfulness of Drugs as Perceived by 12th Graders, Monitoring the Future Study, 1991–2002

Drug Behavior	Percentage saying “great risk“¹
Drug Behavior	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2001-2002 Change
How much do you think people risk harming themselves (physically or in other ways), if they . . .
Try marijuana once or twice	27.1	24.5	21.9	19.5	16.3	15.6	14.9	16.7	15.7	13.7	15.3	16.1	+0.8
Smoke marijuana occasionally	40.6	39.6	35.6	30.1	25.6	25.9	24.7	24.4	23.9	23.4	23.5	23.2	-0.3
Smoke marijuana regularly	78.6	76.5	72.5	65.0	60.8	59.9	58.1	58.5	57.4	58.3	57.4	53.0	-4.4s
Try crack once or twice	60.6	62.4	57.6	58.4	54.6	56.0	54.0	52.2	48.2	48.4	49.4	50.8	+1.4
Take crack occasionally	76.5	76.3	73.9	73.8	72.8	71.4	70.3	68.7	67.3	65.8	65.4	65.6	+0.2
Try cocaine powder once or twice	53.6	57.1	53.2	55.4	52.0	53.2	51.4	48.5	46.1	47.0	49.0	49.5	+0.5
Take cocaine powder occasionally	69.8	70.8	68.6	70.6	69.1	68.8	67.7	65.4	64.2	64.7	63.2	64.4	+1.2
Approximate N	2,549	2,684	2,759	2,591	2,603	2,449	2,579	2,500	2,300	2,130	2,173	2,198
Note: s=.05; any inconsistency between the 2000–2001 change estimate and the respective prevalence estimates is due to rounding. ¹Answer alternatives were: (1) no risk, (2) slight risk, (3) moderate risk, (4) great risk, and (5) can't say, drug unfamiliar. Source: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future study (December 2002).