5. COCAINE USE

In 1995, an estimated 1.5 million Americans were current cocaine users. This represents 0.7 percent of the population aged 12 and older.

The number of cocaine users did not change between 1994 and 1995 (1.4 million in 1994). It had declined from 5.7 million in 1985 (3.0 percent of the population) to 1.4 million (0.7 percent of the population) in 1992.

There were an estimated 582,000 (0.3 percent of the population) frequent cocaine users in 1995. Frequent use, defined as use on 51 or more days during the past year, was not significantly different than in 1994, when there were an estimated 734,000 frequent cocaine users. Since this measure of frequent cocaine use was first estimated in 1985, no significant increases or decreases have been detected. It should be noted that these estimates are subject to large sampling error and potentially large nonsampling error.

The estimated number of occasional cocaine users (people who used in the past year but on fewer than 12 days) was 2.5 million in 1995, similar to what it had been in 1994. The number of users was down significantly from 1985 when it was 7.1 million.

The estimated number of current crack users was about 400,000 in 1995, and there have been no statistically significant changes since 1988.

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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.