Drug Abuse
Drug abuse in America appears to be an increasing public health problem. In 1984, the largest and most comprehensive survey of noninstitutionalized persons in the United States (the National Institute of Mental Health’s Epidemiologic Catchment Area Surveys) showed that drug abuse and dependence was the third most frequently reported psychiatric disorder by men aged 18 to 65. Among young women (aged 18 to 24), drug abuse was the second most frequent psychiatric disorder. The initiation and continuation of drug abuse is determined by a complex interaction of the pharmacologic properties and relative availability of each drug, the personality and expectancy of the user, and the environmental context in which the drug is used. Over the years, drugs of choice have changed; marijuana superceded heroin as the focus of drug abuse concern during the 1970s while expensive “boutique” drugs such as cocaine have achieved extraordinary popularity and widespread abuse during the 1980s.