Illegal Drug Use Falls Sharply, Survey Finds

Illegal drug use is off sharply among American teen-agers and adults with one glaring exception: those 35 and older. The older adults, including the baby boomers who grew up in the permissive ‘60s, now make up 23% of illegal drug users, contrasted with just 10% in 1979.

Those were the key findings from an annual survey on drug abuse released Wednesday by federal health officials.

About 11.4 million Americans age 12 or older were classified as current users of illegal drugs in 1992, down 11% from almost 13 million drug users a year earlier. The survey counts anyone who used drugs in the month before the survey.

The number has been declining steadily since 1979, when the same survey indicated that 24 million Americans had used illicit drugs.

Adults 35 and older, however, are bucking the trend. Use of drugs in that age group is the same now as it was in 1979.

The number of current cocaine users plummeted 31% from 1.9 million in 1991 to 1.3 million in 1992. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which conducted the survey, said that was down from a peak of 5.8 million in 1985.

Occasional cocaine use--less than once a month--was down by 900,000, to 3.4 million. But the number of frequent users--at least weekly--stood unchanged at 640,000.

Marijuana remains the illegal drug of choice, used by 78% of those who tried illegal drugs in 1992.

Other statistics:

* Six percent of 12- to 17-year-olds were current users of illegal drugs; 13% of 18- to 25-year-olds and 10% of 26- to 34-year-olds used drugs.

* Most illegal drug users were white (8.7 million, or 76%); 14% were black (1.6 million); 8% were Latino (900,000).

* More men than women used illicit drugs: 7.1% versus 4.1%.

* Almost 21% of unemployed 18- to 34-year-olds were illegal drug users, nearly double the rate for those with jobs.

The survey was based on in-person, confidential interviews of 28,832 people.