Use of Any Stimulant and of Methamphetamine (Tables 6.4, 6.5, 6.9, and 6.10)

Any Stimulant Use. Table 6.4 shows that approximately 5% of persons aged 12 or older (about 9.8 million persons [OAS, 1998b, Table 9A]) reported ever using prescription-type stimulants for nonmedical reasons in their lifetime. Past year stimulant use was reported by 0.8% of the population, or 1.7 million persons, and past month use by 0.3% of persons 12 years of age or older (about 612,000 persons [OAS, 1998b, Table 9A]).

The overall percentage of males reporting lifetime, past year, and past month stimulant use was significantly higher than that of females. For the total sample and in each of the two older adult age groups, lifetime stimulant use was more prevalent among whites than among blacks and Hispanics. No differences between racial/ethnic groups were found for past year or past month use of stimulants.

Few significant differences were found in past year use of stimulants within other demographic characteristics. In the total sample, the rate of past year use of stimulants was higher among those in small metropolitan areas than among those in nonmetropolitan areas. Rates of past year stimulant use were lower among college graduates than among those in all other education categories.

Methamphetamine Use. The stimulant called methamphetamine had ever been used by 2.5% of the U.S. household population aged 12 or older (Table 6.5). Only 1.2% of youths aged 12 to 17 had ever used methamphetamine, a prevalence significantly lower than for any other age group (2.3% to 2.7%). The lifetime rate of methamphetamine use among 12 to 17 year olds, however, doubled between 1996 and 1997 (from 0.6% to 1.2%) (OAS, 1998d, Table 78B). Overall, twice as many males (3.3%) as females (1.6%) had used methamphetamine in their lifetime; significant gender differences also were found among the two oldest age groups.

In the total sample and the 26 to 34 age group, lifetime methamphetamine use differed significantly between each racial/ethnic group. For youths aged 12 to 17 and young adults aged 12 to 25, whites and Hispanics were more likely than blacks to have used methamphetamine.

In the total sample and in the 18 to 34 age group, lifetime methamphetamine use was more likely among residents of the West than by residents of all other regions. Among those aged 12 to 17, rates of use in the West were significantly higher than rates of use in the South and the North Central regions, and use among those in the South was higher than for those in the North Central region.

This page was last updated on December 30, 2008.