Substances used by adults assessed for substance use treatment by gender U.S. 2019

In 2019, around 22.6 percent of female adults in the United States who were assessed for substance use treatment reported having misused prescription opioid drugs at least once during the past 30 days. This statistic illustrates the percentage of adults in the United States who were assessed for substance use who reported using select substances in the past 30 days as of 2019, by gender.

Percentage of U.S. adults assessed for substance use treatment who reported using select substances in the past 30 days as of 2019, by gender

Characteristic	Male	Female	Total
Alcohol	36.5%	34.6%	35.8%
Cannabis	23.7%	26.9%	24.9%
Cocaine	7.1%	7.8%	7.4%
Illicit stimulants	12%	17.5%	14%
Heroin	10.1%	10.4%	10.2%
Illicit fentanyl	4.7%	5.2%	4.9%
Prescription opioid misuse	16.1%	22.6%	18.5%
Prescription stimulant misuse	1.5%	2.3%	1.8%
Prescription sedatives, tranquilizers, sleeping pills	6.7%	11.6%	8.5%

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Release date

June 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2019

Number of respondents

49,138 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Supplementary notes

Illicit stimulants include illegal amphetamines (e.g., crank, ice, or methamphetamines); this group does not include cocaine. Prescription opioids assessment includes selection of past 30-day misuse of one or more prescription opioid medications. Prescription opioid misuse is any use that is not considered “use as prescribed.” For prescription opioids, “use as prescribed” requires 1) having a current pain problem and taking a prescribed opioid medication for pain during the past 30 days; 2) obtaining the medication only from one’s own prescription; and 3) no use of the medication via an alternate route of administration. Prescription stimulants assessment includes selection of past 30-day misuse of prescription stimulant medications. Stimulant misuse is any use that is not considered “use as prescribed.” For prescription stimulants, “use as prescribed” is defined as obtaining the stimulant medication only from one’s own prescription and no use of the medication via an alternate route of administration. Misuse is also assigned if a respondent indicates having used the medication during the past 30 days “not in a way prescribed by your doctor to treat a diagnosed attention deficit or hyperactivity disorder.” For prescription sedatives and tranquilizers, it was not possible to determine whether these products, which might be obtained by a prescription but are available in the market for a prescription, were misused specifically.

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