Statistics

Statistics

The National Household Survey of Drug Abuse (NHSDA) reported in 1997 that an estimated 1.5 million Americans age 12 and older were chronic cocaine users, a substantial improvement over the 1985 estimate of 5.7 million users.

Based upon additional data sources that take into account users who are underrepresented in the NHSDA survey, the Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates the number of chronic cocaine users at 3.6 million.

The NHSDA estimated the number of current crack users to be about 604,000 in 1997, which does not reflect any significant change since 1988.

Last year, there were approximately 170,000 visits to emergency rooms in the U.S. due to cocaine.

South America exports some 1,000 tons of refined cocaine per year.

The wholesale price of a kilogram of cocaine has continued to drop since 1981, when it was about $55,000. In 1984, the average was about $25,000 per kilogram. By 1995, nationwide prices ranged from $10,500 to $36,000 per kilogram.