Figure 5.3 is titled "Annual Numbers of New Nonmedical Users of Pain Relievers: 1965–2002." It is a line graph, where the horizontal axis represents year, and the vertical axis represents the number of new users, in thousands. There are three lines in the graph corresponding three age categories: All ages, Aged Under 18, and Aged 18 or Older. All three age groups share a similar trend in the number of new users of nonmedical pain relievers; there is a gradual increase from 1965 to the early 1990s, and then a sharp incline until 2000, and a plateau until 2002.
The number of new nonmedical users of pain relievers for persons of all ages was 92,000 in 1965, and increased to 689,000 in 1993. The number increased quickly to 2.5 million in 2000, and then stayed constant through 2002.
The number of new nonmedical users of pain relievers among persons under the age of 18 was 38,000 in 1965. This number only increased to 269,000 by 1994, but then increased more quickly to 1.1 million in 2001. The number of new users remained the same in 2002.
The number of new nonmedical users of pain relievers among persons aged 18 or older was 51,000 in 1967 (estimates were suppressed due to low precision prior to that). The number increased to 603,000 in 1995 and again to 1.4 million by 2001. The number of new adult users of pain relievers remained the same in 2002.