NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: sedatives

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Use of Sedatives (Tables 6.6, 6.9, and 6.10)

Tables 6.6, 6.9, and 6.10 show that in 1997, 1.9% of persons aged 12 or older (about 4.1 million persons [see Table 2.1 and OAS, 1998b, Table 10A]) had ever used prescription-type sedatives for nonmedical reasons, 0.3% had used sedatives in the past year (638,000 persons), and 0.1% had done so in the past month (187,000 persons). The patterns of use of these drugs among demographic subgroups were generally similar to those for stimulants. Similar to lifetime stimulant use, lifetime sedative use was most common among those aged 26 or older, and least common among adolescents and young adults. No significant differences in rates of sedative use were found by gender in any of the three time frames. Few significant differences between regions, educational level, or employment categories were found for past year and past month use.

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

* Adobe™ PDF and MS Office™ formatted files require software viewer programs to properly read them. Click here to download these FREE programs now