Relatively few Americans admit to being regular users of marijuana, and fewer than one in 20 say they recently used drugs other than marijuana -- rates that have not budged much over the past few years -- according to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

The federal survey, released this week, reported that 7.9 percent of Americans ages 12 and over said they used any illicit drug in the month prior to being queried, down slightly from the 8.3 percent who reported past-month use in 2002 and the 8.2 percent who did so in 2003.

The most popular illicit drug among past-month users was marijuana -- used by 6.1 percent of Americans, according to the survey. Only 3.4 percent of survey respondents said they used any other illicit drug, including cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and prescription drugs used non-medically.

Only about one in 10 Americans used marijuana in the past year; a total of 14.5 percent of those surveyed said they had used any illicit drug during the past year. Those figures were virtually unchanged from 2002 and 2003.

Alcohol use was unchanged from the previous year, as was the case in the 2003 survey. The rates of underage drinking, underage and adult binge drinking, and overall alcohol consumption were very similar to results in 2002 and 2003.

Meth-Use Numbers Remain Low

Despite the recent attention given to methamphetamines by the media, law enforcement and legislators, NSDUH researchers estimated that only 0.2 percent of the population -- about 583,000 people nationwide -- were current users of the drug. The 2004 survey said 4.9 percent of Americans had ever used methamphetamine in their lifetime, down from 5.3 percent in 2002.

In releasing the survey results, Bush administration officials touted declining drug use in specific subpopulations, such as youth ages 12-17, saying that overall illicit drug use in this population fell 9 percent between 2002 and 2004. Among adults ages 18-25, current marijuana use fell 7 percent, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt noted.

"Particularly striking was a decline in current use ... of marijuana among boys ages 12-17, from 9.1 percent in 2002 down to 8.1 percent in 2004," a HHS press release noted. "But marijuana use by girls in that age group did not decline and remained at about 7 percent. Similarly, for the 18- to 25-year-old category, the cohort with the highest illicit-drug use rates, there were declines in current marijuana use from 17.3 percent in 2002 to 16.1 percent in 2004; and use of hallucinogens from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 1.5 percent in 2004."

However, the NSDUH reported that the percentage of youths who viewed monthly marijuana use as risky remained the same as in 2003 -- 35 percent.

John Walters, director of the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the teen trends were especially encouraging: "We know that reductions in youth drug use now pay large dividends in reducing the future human and economic costs of drug use to our nation," he said.

Concern Over Abuse of Prescription Painkillers

The survey report devoted relatively little attention to methamphetamine use, generally lumping it under the general category of "non-medical use of psychotherapeutics" and the somewhat narrower "stimulants." But both the report and federal officials expressed concern about the growing abuse of prescription painkillers like OxyContin: the NSDUH estimated that 1.8 percent of Americans were currently abusing such drugs, making them the most popular drugs of abuse after marijuana and alcohol (the latter used by 50.3 percent of Americans, including 10.8 percent of those ages 12-20).

Among survey respondents ages 12-17, 3 percent said they had used painkillers non-medically in the past month, representing the bulk of regular users of illicit drugs other than marijuana (5.2 percent). In fact, lifetime non-medical use of prescription drugs was the only category of drug use to increase among both Americans 12 and older and the 12-17 subgroup (although annual and past-month use declined slightly among both groups).

Non-medical use of painkillers was also found to be the category with the greatest number of new users: the survey estimated that 2.4 million Americans began abusing prescription drugs within the past year; the average age of new users was 23.3 years.

23.5 Million Need Treatment

The report estimated that 23.5 million Americans -- 9.8 percent of the total population -- need treatment for alcohol or other drug abuse, but only 3.8 million received treatment during the year prior to the survey.

Of the 21.1 million people who needed but did not receive treatment in 2004, however, only 1.2 million felt that they needed treatment. About 35 percent of these survey respondents said they had sought treatment but were unsuccessful: common reasons for failing to get care included cost or insurance barriers (42.5 percent), not being ready to stop using (25.3 percent), other access barriers (21.5 percent), and stigma (17.8 percent).

The NSDUH includes data from 67,760 interviews of Americans ages 12 and older, each of whom was paid $30 to complete the survey. The survey focuses on residents of households, so homeless people, members of the military on active duty, residents of institutional quarters, and people in jail or prison are not included.