1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Table 58. Percentages Reporting Past Month Use of Illicit Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco for California, by Age Group: 1995-1998   

	AGE GROUP (Years)
	12-17				18-25				26 and Older				Total
Drug	1995	1996	1997	1998	1995	1996	1997	1998	1995	1996	1997	1998	1995	1996	1997	1998
Any Illicit Drug1	9.2	11.3	9.8	9.9	14.9	17.9	19.7	17.6	4.6	5.2	5.5	4.9	6.6	7.8	7.9	7.2
Marijuana/hashish	6.5	9.2	6.8	7.4	11.2a	15.6	17.1	15.8	3.9	3.5	3.8	3.4	5.2	6.0	5.9	5.5
Cocaine	0.6	0.8	0.7	1.1	0.7a	1.7	2.3	2.1	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.8	1.0
Crack	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.5	0.7	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.3
Inhalants	2.6	0.8	1.9	1.4	0.5	0.5	1.9	1.0	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.7	0.5
Hallucinogens	1.9	2.4	1.4	1.2	1.2	0.9	3.0a	1.5	*	0.3	0.2	0.2	1.0	0.6	0.7	0.4
PCP	0.1	*	0.0	0.0	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	0.0	0.0	*	*
LSD	0.8	1.1	0.6	0.3	0.2	*	1.3	0.3	*	*	*	*	0.1	0.1	0.2a	0.1
Heroin	0.4	*	0.1	0.2	*	0.2	0.0	0.1	*	*	0.4	*	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0
Nonmedical use of any psychotherapeutic2	1.5	2.3	3.2	2.2	3.9	2.1	4.8a	2.7	0.9	1.5	1.6	1.3	1.4	1.7	2.2	1.6
Stimulants	0.5	0.6	1.3	0.9	2.9	0.9	2.3b	0.8	0.4	0.3	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.4	1.0	0.6
Sedatives	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.4	*	*	0.1	0.1	0.1	*	0.2	*	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.1
Tranquilizers	0.6	*	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.1	1.2b	0.1	0.4	0.8	0.5	0.3	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.3
Analgesics	1.2	2.1	2.5	1.7	1.3	1.2	2.6	1.8	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8	1.1	1.0
Any illicit drug other than marijuana1	5.1	4.9	5.4	4.5	6.0	4.9	8.6a	5.8	2.1	2.1	2.7	2.5	3.0	2.9	3.8	3.2
Alcohol	14.6	16.2	17.4	16.5	54.2	53.6	54.5	56.9	56.3	55.7	55.6	54.2	51.6	51.1	51.4	50.5
"Binge" alcohol use3	2.8b	6.1	6.7	5.8	22.6	25.7	26.7	28.0	16.0	13.4	11.0	12.1	15.5	14.6	12.6	13.5
Heavy alcohol use3	0.5b	1.6	3.3	2.8	7.1a	10.7	10.0	11.4	5.6	4.4	4.3	3.6	5.3	5.1	5.0	4.5
Cigarettes	12.1	15.0	13.7	13.6	23.6a	27.8	31.9	29.2	24.0	25.9	25.2	21.6	22.7	25.0	24.8	21.7
Smokeless Tobacco	0.2	0.3	0.9	0.7	3.4	2.6	3.1	2.2	1.2	1.3	0.7	1.1	1.4	1.4	1.1	1.2

Note: The 1995-96 NHSDA samples were not designed to produce fully representative California estimates. The size and coverage (approximately 95% of the California population) of the 1995-96 samples, however, were sufficient to provide reasonably accurate prevalence estimates for California. Although the sample weights associated with 1995-96 NHSDA respondents from California were not post-stratified to California population projections, analyses of the NHSDA data revealed this lack of post-stratification had little effect on estimated percentages of reported drug use. It may, however, have a significant effect on estimates of totals within certain subgroups.

*Low precision; no estimate reported.

-- Estimate not available.

^aDifference between estimate and 1998 estimate is statistically significant at the .05 level.

^bDifference between estimate and 1998 estimate is statistically significant at the .01 level.

¹ Any illicit drug indicates use at least once of marijuana or hashish, cocaine (including crack), inhalants, hallucinogens (including PCP and LSD), heroin, or any prescription-type psychotherapeutic used nonmedically. Any illicit drug other than marijuana indicates use at least once of any of these listed drugs, regardless of marijuana use; marijuana users who also have used any of the other listed drugs are included.

² Nonmedical use of any prescription-type stimulant, sedative, tranquilizer, or analgesic; does not include over-the-counter-drugs.

³ "Binge" alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. By "occasion" is meant at the same time or within a couple hours of each other. Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days; all heavy alcohol users also are "binge" alcohol users.

Source: Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

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This page was last updated on June 01, 2008.

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