General Questions
What Does the National Institute on Drug Abuse (
NIDA) Do?
NIDA supports over 85% of the world's research on drug abuse and addiction. NIDA-supported science addresses the most fundamental and essential questions about drug abuse, including tracking emerging drug use trends, understanding how drugs work in the brain, and developing and testing new drug treatment and prevention approaches.
NIDA and other agencies discover what drugs are being abused by tracking trends in drug use through many different surveys and data collection systems. Annually, NIDA supports the collection of data on drug abuse patterns among secondary school students and young adults through the Monitoring the Future Study (MTF). Table 1 provides MTF data for some commonly abused drugs among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. NIDA has also gathered information on types of commonly abused drugs, such as street and commercial names and health effects, into a chart, which is available on line at http://www.drugabuse.gov/DrugsofAbuse.html.
NIDA also monitors general and emerging drug problems through its Community Epidemiology Work Group, which meets twice yearly to discuss emerging drug problems in major metropolitan areas across the nation. To view the Office of National Drug Control Policy's listing of federal drug surveys visit http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/sources.html.
8th—8.5%
|
10th—17.3%
|
12th—23.1%
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
8th—9.3%
|
10th—14.9%
|
12th—23.2%
|
8th—3.3%
|
10th—5.1%
|
12th—7.6%
|
8th—6.6%
|
10th—15.2%
|
12th—19.8%
|
8th—4.2%
|
10th—2.2%
|
12th—2.0%
|
8th—2.3%
|
10th—3.7%
|
12th—3.9%
|
8th—0.7%
|
10th—1.1%
|
12th—0.9%
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
12th—3.9%
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
12th—3.3%
|
8th—1.3%
|
10th—2.3%
|
12th—2.9%
|
8th—0.6%
|
10th—1.0%
|
12th—1.0%
|
8th—1.0%
|
10th—1.5%
|
12th—2.3%
|
8th—0.5%
|
10th—0.5%
|
12th—0.5%
|
* current = use in past 30 days
** MTF data on use of other narcotics and barbiturates is excluded for 8th and 10th graders as these younger respondents appear to over-report use (perhaps because they include use of nonprescription drugs in their answer). |
For referrals to treatment programs, call 1-800-662-HELP, or visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration online.
NIDA publishes an expanding series of treatment manuals, the "clinical toolbox," that gives drug treatment providers research-based information for creating effective treatment programs.
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