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3. ANY ILLICIT DRUG USE

In 1995, an estimated 12.8 million Americans were current illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug in the month prior to interview. This represents 6.1 percent of the population 12 years old and older.


Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, used by 77 percent of current illicit drug users (Figure 1). Approximately 57 percent of current illicit drug users used marijuana only, 20 percent used marijuana and another illicit drug, and the remaining 23 percent used only an illicit drug other than marijuana in the past month. An estimated 5.6 million Americans (2.6 percent of the population) were current users of illicit drugs other than marijuana and hashish.
The number of current illicit drug users did not change between 1994 and 1995 (12.6 and 12.8 million, respectively). The number of current illicit drug users was at its highest level in 1979 (25.4 million, 14.1 percent), declined until 1992 (12.0 million, 5.8 percent), and has remained at approximately the same level since then (Figure 2).


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