NCJ Number
134529
Date Published
1991
Length
182 pages
Annotation
Annual surveys of representative samples of college students and young adults in the United States from 1975 to 1990 focused on the use of 11 separate classes of drugs and found that 1990 continued the gradual decline in the proportions involved in the use of any illicit drug and the widespread occurrence of occasions of heavy alcohol drinking.
Abstract
The surveys did not include high school dropouts. Results revealed that 41 percent of college students reported drinking 5 or more drinks in a row at least once in the 2 weeks before the 1990 survey, a rate that remained relatively stable since 1980. The rate for noncollege students was 33 percent, indicating a "catching up and passing" phenomenon among college students, who were less likely to drink heavily when they were in high school. A higher proportion of males than females reported heavy drinking. Those not in college had a 20-percent rate of smoking half a pack a day or more, compared to 8 percent in college. By age 27, 40 percent had tried cocaine; and 5.1 percent of the young adult sample had tried crack cocaine. About 2.5 percent of the young adults were daily marijuana smokers in 1990. Tables, figures, and footnotes. For Volume 1, see NCJ-134528.