Substance Abuse Statistics for the State of Maine

In 1996, the University of Maine prepared an assessment of Maine students in grades six through twelve for the State of Maine Office of Substance Abuse, Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services, to evaluate alcohol and drug use. The survey posed 124 questions to the students, concerning their use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs; it included questions about peers, family, community, and school and their influence on abuse behaviors. More than 6000 students, approximately six percent of the sixth through twelfth graders in the state, answered the questionnaire. Students were randomly selected and represented all sixteen Maine counties.

Most Notable Findings

Smokeless Tobacco

• For each grade level, nearly three times as many boys, as compared to girls, had tried smokeless tobacco.
• More than forty percent (40%) of all high school boys (grades nine through twelve) had tried smokeless tobacco at least once in their lifetime.

• One-half of all sixth through twelfth graders had smoked cigarettes.
• About sixty-eight (68%) percent of tenth through twelfth graders had smoked.
• Fewer than one in ten sixth through ninth graders and about one out of every six tenth through twelfth graders smoked heavily (one-half pack or more per day) in the previous thirty days.
• Approximately twenty-three (23%) percent of all tenth through twelfth graders smoked cigarettes daily.

• Approximately sixty percent (60%) of all seventh graders, seventy percent (70%) of all eighth graders, seventy-eight percent (78%) of all ninth graders, and eighty-six percent (86%) of all tenth through twelfth graders had used alcohol.
• About ten percent (10%) of all sixth graders, twenty-five percent (25%) of all seventh graders, thirty-six percent (36%) of all eighth graders, forty-four percent (44%) of all ninth graders, over fifty percent (50%) of all tenth and eleventh graders, and sixty percent (60%) of all twelfth graders had used alcohol on one or more occasions in the pervious thirty days.
• Four percent (4%) of all sixth graders, ten percent (10%) of all seventh graders, sixteen percent (16%) of all eighth graders, twenty-six percent (26%) of all ninth graders, and twenty-nine percent (29%) of all tenth graders were excessive drinkers, "excessive drinking" being defined as five or more alcoholic drinks in a row in the previous two weeks.

• Only four percent (4%) of all sixth graders had used marijuana, while over fifteen percent (15%)-nearly four times as many-seventh graders had. About fifty percent (50%) of all tenth through twelfth graders had used marijuana.
• Sixteen percent (16%) of all eighth graders, twenty-six percent (26%) of all ninth graders, and twenty-nine percent (29%) of all tenth through twelfth graders had used marijuana at least once during the previous month.
• About eighteen percent (18%) of all eighth and ninth graders and twenty-nine percent (29%) of all tenth through twelfth graders used marijuana at least once a month.

• Fewer than five percent (5%) of all sixth through eighth graders and about thirteen percent (13%) of all ninth through twelfth graders had never used LSD or other psychedelics.

• No more than seven percent (7%) of Maine high school students in any one grade had ever used cocaine or crack.

• Two percent (2%) of all school-aged girls and three percent (3%) of all school-aged boys had used steroids for cosmetic or athletic purposes.