NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: cigarettes & other drugs

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Cigarette Use and Use of Other Drugs (Table 8.7)

Current smokers were more likely than were current nonsmokers to have used alcohol or illicit drugs in the past month. The differences between smokers and nonsmokers in their use of other substances were statistically significant for every substance in every age group, except for nonmedical use of psychotherapeutics among adults aged 35 or older. In the total population aged 12 or older, for example, the rate of any illicit drug use in the past month among current smokers (15%) was more than five times the rate of past month illicit drug use among those who had not smoked cigarettes in the past month (3%).

Among youths aged 12 to 17, current smokers were more than 10 times more likely than nonsmokers in the past month to have used any illicit drug, marijuana, or any illicit drug other than marijuana in this same period. In addition, although the rate of past month cocaine use among adolescent smokers (5%) was low relative to the other rates among adolescent smokers, this rate was 45 times the rate for adolescents who had not smoked in the past month (0.1%). For past month alcohol use, the proportional difference between youths who were current smokers and those who were nonsmokers was not as large as for the other drugs. Nevertheless, the prevalence of past month alcohol use among youths who were current smokers was more than 5.5 times the rate among youths who had not smoked cigarettes in the past month.

Among young adults aged 18 to 25, current smokers were about 4 to 5 times more likely than current nonsmokers to have used any illicit drug, marijuana, or any illicit drug other than marijuana in the past month. Young adults who were current smokers were 14 times more likely than current nonsmokers to have used cocaine in the past month. Although the prevalence of past month alcohol use was significantly higher among young adults who were current smokers compared with those who were not, the difference was not as large as those for the other drugs.

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.

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