Heroin Use - Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF)*
According to the 2003 MTF, rates of heroin use are almost 50 percent lower than recent peak rates in all three grades surveyed. However, only use by 10th-graders showed a significant decline in the past year.
Heroin Use by Students, 2003:
Monitoring the Future Survey
|
8th-Graders |
10th-Graders |
12th-Graders |
Ever Used** |
1.6% |
1.5% |
1.5% |
Used in Past Year |
0.9 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
Used in Past Month |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG)***
In June 2003, CEWG members reported that heroin indicators were relatively stable, but maintained high levels in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Primary heroin treatment admissions ranged from 62 to 82 percent of all illicit drug admissions (excluding alcohol) in Baltimore, Boston, and Newark; rates of heroin ED mentions exceeded 100 per 100,000 in Chicago and Newark; and heroin/opiate-related deaths ranged between 275 and 496 in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit.
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA)****
The 2002 NSDUH study reports that since the mid-1990s, the prevalence of lifetime heroin use increased for both youth and young adults. From 1995 to 2002, the rate among youth age 12 to 17 increased from 0.1 to 0.4 percent; among young adults age 18 to 25, the rate rose from 0.8 to 1.6 percent. In the past year, 404,000 Americans age 12 and older reported using heroin, and 3.7 million reported using it at least once in their lives.
Notes
* These data are from the 2003 Monitoring the Future Survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, DHHS, and conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The survey has tracked 12th-graders' illicit drug use and related attitudes since 1975; in 1991, 8th- and 10th-graders were added to the study. The latest data are online at www.drugabuse.gov
** "Ever used" refers to use at least once during a respondent's lifetime. "Past year" refers to an individual's drug use at least once during the year preceding their response to the survey. "Past month" refers to an individual's drug use at least once during the month preceding their response to the survey.
*** CEWG is a NIDA-sponsored network of researchers from 21 major U.S. metropolitan areas and selected foreign countries who meet semiannually to discuss the current epidemiology of drug abuse. CEWG's most recent report is Epidemiologic Trends in Drug Abuse, Volume I, June 2003
**** NSDUH (formerly known as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) is an annual survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Copies of the latest survey are available from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 1-800-729-6686.
-This text came from NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
