NCJ Number
177465
Journal
National Institute of Justice Journal Dated: April 1999 Pages: 12-19
Date Published
April 1999
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article discusses several key drug indicators and what they indicate, both as individual "snapshots" of specific populations during specific periods of time as well as broad, collective overviews of drug use.
Abstract
Each method used to measure drug use in the United States has certain strengths and limitations; each reveals different aspects of drugs use, and policymakers who integrate data from the several indicators can weave a consistent tale of American drug use and changes over time. Each indicator provides useful information. Monitoring the Future provided the early indications of the cocaine epidemic, and Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) did a good job in tracking its later stages. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) has shown that drug problems can increase even as the rate of drug use in the population stabilizes and has provided compelling evidence that drug problems are disproportionately borne by poor and urban minority populations. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse has provided an essential measure of the decline of drug use in the general population through the 1980's. An integration of the findings from the various indicators shows that the fraction of today's population that uses illicit drugs is well below the peak of the early 1980's; however, the severity of drug-related problems has not declined much, probably because drug abusers have such difficulty quitting and because the problems they cause themselves and society change, but do not abate, as their drug- using careers lengthen and their health deteriorates. A list of 9 resources and 7 notes