Majority of Youth Say Marijuana Easy To Obtain
How easy is it for young people to get marijuana and other illicit
drugs?
In 2002, more than half of youth age 12 to 17 felt that marijuana
was easy to obtain. And almost 17 percent of all youth reported
being approached by someone selling drugs in the past month. These
statistics are included in a new report from the 2002 National Survey
on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), formerly the National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse.
From across the Nation, the survey gathered responses from more
than 23,000 youth to a series of questions about their use and perceptions
of availability of illicit drugs.
First, young people were asked to give a tally of their illicit
drug use in the month prior to the interview. Illicit drugs included
marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), inhalants, hallucinogens,
heroin, and prescription drugs for non-medical use. Youth were then
asked how easy or difficult it was to obtain drugs. In addition,
they were asked about being approached in the past month by someone
selling drugs. Responses were analyzed by gender, age, and residence
by the type of county (metropolitan versus non-metropolitan) in
which the respondents lived.
The survey estimated that 3 million youth (12 percent) age 12
to 17 used an illicit drug in the past month. Marijuana was the
most frequently used drug; 8 percent reported using it within the
last month. Four percent reported using prescription drugs non-medically
in the past month; 1 percent used inhalants; and 1 percent used
hallucinogens, including LSD. Cocaine (including crack) and heroin
were used by less than 1 percent of the respondents.
Overall, 55 percent of youth age 12 to 17 said it would be easy
to obtain marijuana. More than one in four young people felt it
would be easy to obtain crack, compared to 25 percent for cocaine,
19 percent for LSD, and 16 percent for heroin. By gender, females
were more likely than males to report that LSD, cocaine, crack,
and heroin were easy to obtain. By age, 16- and 17-year-olds were
more likely than younger children age 12 to 15 to report marijuana,
LSD, cocaine, crack, and heroin as easy to obtain.
Data show that many young people don't have to go looking for
illicit drugs; sellers bring the drugs to them. Males were more
likely to be approached by a drug seller than females, and youth
age 16 or 17 were more likely to be approached than youth age 15
or younger.
The report reveals some discrepancies between youth who live in
metropolitan areas and those who live in non-metropolitan areas.
Youth in metropolitan areas were more likely than youth in non-metropolitan
areas to report that LSD or cocaine was easy to obtain. In large
metropolitan areas, youth reported more frequently that heroin was
easy to obtain than those living in small metropolitan or non-metropolitan
areas. Youth living in metropolitan areas were more likely to be
approached by someone selling drugs.
Clearly, young people who reported that illicit drugs were easy
to obtain were more likely to report past-month use of marijuana,
LSD, cocaine, or crack than were those who viewed illicit drugs
as hard to obtain. Furthermore, youth who were approached by someone
selling drugs during the past month were also more likely to report
using drugs than were youth not approached by a drug seller.
An electronic copy of this NSDUH report, Availability of Illicit
Drugs among Youths, is available from SAMHSA's
Office of Applied Studies at www.drugabusestatistics.samhsa.gov.
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Percentages of Youth Reporting that Obtaining Illicit Drugs
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