By

Gordon E. Kenney, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist The University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee, USA

The attached graph presents use and abuse (including dependence) rates for American adults in 1985. Use rates were taken from National (USA) Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 1985 national household survey, and abuse/dependence rates were taken from the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (1994), which cited community studies in the USA conducted between 1981 and 1985. "Abuse" involves problematic use of a given substance, whereas "dependence" involves more pathological use which substantially affects social, occupational, and/or educational functioning. The graph lumps abuse and dependence together meaning general problematic use, which is labelled simply "abuse."