Table 1.

Demographic and Drug Use Characteristics by Lifetime Methamphetamine Use Status for Homeless Adults in Los Angeles

Characteristic	Used Methamphetamine (%) (N = 153)	Did Not Use Methamphetamine (%) (N = 509)	Total Sample (%) (N = 662)
Age:*
18–25	10.5	3.5	5.1
26–39	46.1	26.7	31.2
40+	43.4	69.7	63.7
High School Graduate:	62.8	74.4	71.8
Male	81.7	72.7	74.8
Ethnicity:*
African-American	30.1	82.1	70.1
White	36.6	7.3	14.1
Hispanic	29.4	8.5	13.3
Mixed	2.0	0.2	0.6
Other	2.0	2.0	2.0
Support Sources:*
Drug Users	14.0	2.9	5.4
Non-Drug Users	55.9	73.8	69.7
Both	30.1	23.4	24.9
Veteran	8.5	13.8	12.6
Trade Sex, past 6 months	9.2	4.6	5.6
Tattoos – 3 or more *	39.9	20.2	24.8
IDU, Ever *	40.5	10.1	17.9
Multiple Serious Drug Use,+ lifetime*	83.0	39.9	49.9
Used Alcohol > 4 times/day, past 6 months	35.9	19.7	23.8
Binge Drinker, past 6 months *	34.9	12.8	17.9

⁺Use of at least 2 of the following: crack, cocaine, heroin, methadone, heroine + cocaine, other opiates and hallucinogens

^*p < .001, chi-square for group differences