Illicit Drug Use and Addiction in the United States: Review of Available Statistics

THE TASK of describing the scope of illicit drug use, abuse, and addiction in the United States has been and still is difficult.Most of the data needed for estimates simply do not exist.Those that do exist cannot be used with full confidence because they lack validity or reliability or both.The types of drugs with which we are con- cerned are the opiates (popularly known as nar- cotics), marihuana, and a group of non-narcotic psychoactive drugs that includes sedatives, stimulants, and tranquilizers.Alcohol and to- bacco logically qualify as psychoactive drugs of abuse or addiction, but findings about the extent of their use are not included in this paper.Estimates are available from the Na- tional Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Center for Prevention and Control of Alcohol- ism, Health Services and Mental Health Ad- ministration, and the National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health, Regional Medical Programs Service.The findings reported here do not represent cumulative summaries over the past decade.These can be found in statements and compilations by officials and agencies.This report is intended as a summary of new findings avail- able in the past year that will portray the cur- rent statistical picture of drug abuse.The only sources of information on illicit