Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 2009
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 3A
Copyright: 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Referenced: The Survey http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2K8NSDUH/tabs/toc.htm

ABUSE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS DIPS

Study: Meth Use Down, Pot Up

WASHINGTON - Fewer people abused prescription drugs last year than in 
2007, reversing an upward trend in abuse of potent painkillers such 
as OxyContin, a federal drug survey found.

People who once saw little risk in abusing prescription drugs are 
responding to health reports underscoring dangers of misuse, says 
Eric Broderick, acting administrator of the Substance Abuse and 
Mental Health Services Administration, which conducts the annual 
National Survey on Drug Use and Health made public Thursday.

"If people perceive alcohol, drugs and tobacco as being risky, they 
are more inclined not to do it," says Gil Kerlikowske, director of 
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He credits 
last year's federally funded anti-drug ad campaign, which he called a 
"full-court press on prescription drugs."

About 6.2 million Americans - 2.5% of the population - said they 
abused prescription drugs in the past month in 2008, a decrease from 
2.8% of the population in 2007, the survey found.

People who reported that they had used methamphetamine in the 
previous month also dropped dramatically, from 529,000 people in 2007 
to 314,000 in 2008.

Overall, illicit drug use among Americans held steady. The drops in 
methamphetamine and prescription-drug abuse were offset by increases 
among some age groups of marijuana and hallucinogen use, according to 
the survey of 67,500 people age 12 and older. Illegal drug use among 
people 50 to 59 increased from 2.7% in 2002 to 4.6% in 2008, a trend 
the report attributes to drug-using Baby Boomers who are getting older.

The survey found 8% of the population, about 20.1 million Americans, 
used an illicit drug in the past month ? no change from 2007.

Despite a marijuana-focused anti-drug campaign during the Bush 
administration, marijuana remains the most common illicit drug: 6.1% 
of the population, or 15.2 million people, reported previous-month 
use, up from 5.8% in 2007. Among the 12-to-17 age group, 6.7% 
reported using marijuana in the previous month in 2008, the same 
percentage as in 2007. 
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