National Household Survey on Drug Abuse


Book Description

Measures the prevalence of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco among the civilian, non-institutionalized population over 12 years old. Covers: marijuana; cocaine; inhalants, hallucinogens and heroin; nonmedical use of psychotherapeutic drugs; alcohol; cigarettes and smokeless tobacco; problems associated with alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use; drug use patterns; special topics (drug use by family income, health insurance status, and welfare assistance, prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse treatment, prevalence of anabolic steroid and "ice" use). Over 100 tables.
















Snow Job


Book Description

Cocaine has had a long and prominent position in the history of American substance abuse. As far back as the late 1800s cocaine was commonly found hi patent medicines, elixirs, and, astonishingly, in the earliest versions of Coca-Cola. Eventually, the potency of cocaine was recognized and its purveyors came under gradual regulation. Events hi the early 1900s kept cocaine use down until World War II, but the extensive drug use of the 1960s once again sparked a national temperance movement. Created in 1989, the Office of National Drug Control Policy maintains responsibility for coordinating and monitoring the nation's countemarcotics policy. But responsibility for coordination and monitoring is not the same thing as control. In Snow Job? Kevin Jack Riley examines source country control policies—policies intended to control the production and export of cocaine from Latin America—and their limitations. Part I draws together drug use, drug production, and drug control policies hi an analytic framework. It goes on to examine the recent history of U.S. drug control policies, source country control policies, the ways hi which cocaine prices affect cocaine use, how cocaine is made, and the vulnerable points in its production. Part II examines the economic effects that production and controls exert on the sources of cocaine—Bolivia and Peru—and probes the Colombian drug lord connection. Part III prescribes an appropriate path for source country cocaine policies and examines their implications for two other widely smuggled drugs, heroin and marijuana. Riley disagrees with analysts who believe that source country control policies can lead to permanent victory hi the war against cocaine, because of the potentially high costs associated with implementing source country control policies on a large scale. He suggests a better strategy would be one that recognizes the severe limits facing interdiction, eradication, and other source country policies, and instead focuses on directing source country resources where they will be most useful. This necessitates defining a regional strategy that elevates political stability and institution building, and demotes traditional countemarcotics objectives. Snow Job? offers original thinking and practical approaches to a multidimensional world problem and will be of interest to policymakers, political scientists, sociologists, and law enforcement officials.




National Survey Results on Drug Use from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1993: Secondary school students


Book Description

This report summarizes a national survey of drug use and related attitudes among American secondary school students. All of its data came from an ongoing national research and reporting program entitled, "Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles and Values of Youth." These surveys address two major topics: (1) the prevalence of drug use among American students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades; and (2) drug use trends by those students. Distinctions were drawn among demographic subgroups, incidence of first use recorded, trends in use at lower grade levels, and intensity of drug use. Also included were key attitudes about illicit drug use--incorporating perceptions of the social environment--as potential explanatory factors. The research focused on frequent drug use rather than analyzing everyone who has ever used drugs. This strategy serves to differentiate levels of seriousness, or extent, of drug involvement. Survey results indicate that the last decade witnessed an appreciable decrease in the use of numerous illicit drugs among seniors. However, eighth-graders exhibited a significant increase in some drug use, such as marijuana, cocaine, and LSD. This latter evidence may indicate that younger cohorts have less opportunity to learn though informal means about the dangers of drugs. Two appendixes present the prevalence and trend estimates adjusted for absentees and dropouts, and definitions of background and demographic subgroups. (RJM)