Some interesting statistics about cocaine use:
Cocaineabuse.us offer some interesting recent information about cocaine statistics and users. They indicate that many people believe that cocaine is not a major threat like it used to be when cocaine use peaked in the 80’s.
However, they cite that a study performed by the Substance Abuse and Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that showed that although cocaine use declined until the early 1990s,cocaine use has been rising in the United States since.
Further, it is estimated that about two million people are cocaine addicts in the United States, and that between 22 and 25 million people have used cocaine at least once.
Also, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, among those 12 and older, about 0.7 percent of the population used cocaine – including crack cocaine – in the past month. This might not seem like a huge statistic. However, 0.7 percent of the population translates to over a million new users a year!
It has been shown by SAMHSA that adults most commonly use cocaine. In the 1980’s most users were at least 18 and now they are generally at least 21 years old. Cocaineabuse.us indicates that drug-statistics.com reports that college students have been increasing their use of cocaine – up to 4.8 percent from 2 percent in 1994.
Interestingly, men are more likely to use cocaine than are women. But recently, it has been sown that the gap between male and female users is narrowing. Tragically, more than 400,000 infants are born addicted to cocaine each year in the United States.
There is good news, however. Recent studies indicate that high school sophomores are using cocaine less. Again, cocaineabuse.us states that the, “NIDA reports that past-year use of crack cocaine decreased in 10th graders from 2.3 percent to 1.6 percent. This is encouraging, and it is hopeful that today’s teenagers will continue to avoid cocaine even after they reach the 18-25 age group. There is speculation that the decline in cocaine use among teenagers is more to do with the inexpensive availability of prescription drugs.”
Interesting to note is the cocaine use found according to racial lines. The most common group of cocaine abusers is American Indians and/or Alaskan natives. Their rate of cocaine use is about 2 percent. Other cocaine use rates include 1.6 percent for African Americans, 0.8 percent for Caucasians, 0.8 percent for Hispanics, 0.6 percent for Pacific Islanders and/or Native Hawaiians and 0.2 percent for Asians. As a result, some agency resources are being concentrated in areas where certain races reside and cocaine use is higher. (cocaineabuse.us)
It is clear that although cocaine use declined after the 1980’s, it is once again on the rise and should not be ignored as an addicting problem that could very negatively impact our society.