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Alcohol Use by Persons Under the Legal Drinking Age of 21 

The NHSDA Report:  Alcohol Use by Persons Under the Legal Drinking Age of 21 

Highlights

  • SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse estimates that in 2001, about 10.1 million persons aged 12 to 20 used alcohol in the past month.  Nearly 3 million of this age group were dependent on or abused alcohol in the past year but only about 400,000 received any type of alcohol treatment in the past year.  Furthermore, nearly 3 million persons aged 16 to 20 were estimated to have driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year.
  • Although under the legal age for drinking, 29.8 percent of males and 27.2 percent of females aged 12 to 20 in 2001 used alcohol in the past month.  
  • About 6.8 million (19 percent) of persons aged 12 to 20 reported binge alcohol use in the past month in 2001, that is, drank five or more drinks on the same occasion. 
  • Combining data from SAMHSA's National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse from 1999 through 2001 provided State estimates for underage drinking.  Underage alcohol use tended to be more prevalent in States in New England, the upper Midwest, and the northern Mountain States. 

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This Short Report, The NHSDA Report:  Alcohol Use by Persons Under the Legal Drinking Age of 21 , is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse and for selected mental health measures in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health also provides estimates for drug use and for selected mental health measures by State.

 

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This page was last updated on March 17, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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