New NSDUH Report on Nonmedical Stimulant Use

In 2006, 2 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 (an estimated 510,000 persons) used stimulants nonmedically in the past year, a rate twice as high as that observed among adults aged 26 or older. Across adolescent age groups, the rate of past-year nonmedical stimulant use in 2006 increased from 0.7 percent among youths aged 12 or 13 to 3.3 percent among those aged 16 or 17. Other research has found that stimulant misuse is associated with use of other illicit drugs, criminal justice involvement, and depression.

The following are brief findings found in the report:

			Youths aged 12 to 17 who used stimulants nonmedically in the past year were more likely to have used other illicit drugs in the past year than youths who did not use stimulants nonmedically in the past year.
			Over 71 percent of youths who used stimulants nonmedically in the past year engaged in any of six types of delinquent behavior in that period, compared with approximately 34 percent of youths who did not use stimulants nonmedically in the past year.
			Almost 23 percent of youths who used stimulants nonmedically in the past year experienced a major depressive episode in the past year compared with 8.1 percent of youths who did not use stimulants nonmedically in that period.

Download NSDUH Report:

Nonmedical Stimulant Use, Other Drug Use, Delinquent Behaviors, and Depression Among Adolescents (272 KB)