The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) included 9 categories of illicit drugs which includes use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants and the non medical use of prescription type pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives. This research is funded by Monitoring The Future (MFT) group.
For the young adults aged 18 to 25, the rates of use of the illicit drugs in 2009 was higher by 21.2 percent than the illicit drug use among the adults of other age group. Among young adults, 18.1 percent used marijuana, 6.3 percent used prescription type drugs non medically, 1.8 percent used hallucinogens, and 1.4 percent used cocaine.
In 2009, 6.3 percent were current illicit drug users among the adults aged 26 or older. Among these adults 4.6 percent used marijuana, and 2.1 percent used prescription type drugs non medically. Among the adults aged 26 or older, 0.6 percent used cocaine, 0.2 percent used hallucinogens, 0.1 percent used both heroin and inhalants. When compared to 2008, the non medical use of stimulants increased from 0.2 to 0.4 percent, methamphetamine use rose from 0.1 to 0.2 percent in 2009. In addition to these drugs, use of marijuana is also higher in 2009 which accounts to 4.6 percent.
Among adults aged 50 to 59, the rate of current illicit drug use increased from 2.7 to 6.2 percent between 2002 and 2009. For the adults aged between 50 and 54 the rate increased from 3.4 percent in 2002 to 6.9 percent in 2009. Among those aged 55 to 59, current illicit drug use increased from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 5.4 percent in 2009.