NCJ Number
202209
Date Published
September 2003
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health on alcohol or illicit drug use and driving under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol and offers a comparative analysis based on several factors.
Abstract
Individuals aged 12 or older were asked to report their use of alcohol or illicit drugs under the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Those reporting alcohol or illicit drug use during the 12 months prior to the survey were also asked whether they had driven a vehicle under the influence of illegal drugs alone or in combination with alcohol. This report presents findings from those responses which were also analyzed for comparison by gender, race/ethnicity, geographic location, county type, current employment, and education level. Select findings include: (1) over 35 million individuals age 12 or older had used illicit drugs in the past 12 months with almost 11 million of those illicit drug users driving under the influence of illegal drugs; (2) the rate of drugged driving increased with age to 18 percent among 21 year olds and decreased with increasing age among those 22 years of age and older; (3) among adults 18 years of age or older, past year drugged driving was more common in the West and Midwest regions compared to the Northeast and South; and (4) among young adults aged 18 to 22, those who were full-time college undergraduates were more likely than their counterparts of the same age to have driven under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year. Figures