NCJ Number
162482
Date Published
1995
Length
45 pages
Annotation
The results of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reveal that drug use is correlated with attitudes and beliefs about drugs.
Abstract
The questionnaire survey gathered information from a representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 1992. Among those who reported that marijuana was easy to obtain, the rate of current marijuana use was 6.6 percent in 1992, compared to 1.4 percent among those who reported that marijuana was not easy to obtain. The rate of current marijuana use was only 0.8 percent among those who reported that occasional marijuana use had great risk of harm, compared to 7.3 percent among those who did not associate great risk with occasional marijuana use. The percentage reporting that occasional marijuana use was associated with great risk of harm increased from 41 percent in 1985 to 50 percent in 1988, but it has been below 50 percent since then. The percentage reporting that smoking one or more packs of cigarettes a day was associated with great risk of harm was 64 percent in 1992. Only 49 percent of those ages 12-17 reported that smoking was associated with great risk of harm in 1992. Those with the highest educational attainment were the most likely to perceive great risk associated with cigarettes, but least likely to perceive great risk associated with use of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Table, figures, appended methodological information and tables, and 16 references