Age of First Use among Admissions for Drugs: 1993 and 2003. The DASIS Report

摘要

The age when people first use drugs is considered an important marker in efforts to control drug abuse. According to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, adults who had first used substances at a younger age were more likely to be classified with dependence or abuse than adults who initiated use at a later age. This report will look at age of first use among Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) admissions for drugs other than alcohol. TEDS collects data on the approximately 1.8 million annual admissions to substance abuse treatment facilities, primarily those that receive some public funding. Up to three substances may be reported in TEDS as being used at the time of admission. This report classifies admissions according to the earliest age at which use began for any of the drugs reported. For some admissions, it is possible that initiation of drug use may have occurred at an even earlier age if the first drug used was not among the three drugs reported at time of admission.