Use of Tranquilizers (Tables 6.7, 6.9, and 6.10)

Tables 6.7, 6.9, and 6.10 show that in 1997, 3.2% of persons aged 12 or older (about 6.9 million persons [see Table 2.1 and OAS, 1998b, Table 11A]) had ever used prescription-type tranquilizers for nonmedical reasons, 1% had used tranquilizers in the past year (2.1 million persons), and 0.4% had done so in the past month (845,000 persons). Lifetime tranquilizer use was more common among those aged 18 to 34 and less common among adolescents and older adults. There were no significant differences in rates of past year and past month tranquilizer use by gender. Whites were more likely than blacks to report past year tranquilizer use (Table 6.9).

There were no significant differences in rates of past year and past month tranquilizer use by population density. Residents of the South and West, however, reported higher rates of past year and past month tranquilizer use than residents of the Northeast.

In the total sample, those with some college reported higher rates of lifetime tranquilizer use than those in all other education categories, but there were few significant differences in rates of past year and past month use by education.

This page was last updated on December 30, 2008.

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