Table 4.

Percent of Past 12-Month Users of Each Drug Reporting Each Reason Indicated, Averaged across 1976–2005

	Alcohol	Marijuana	LSD	Amphetamines	Barbiturates	Tranquilizers	Cocaine	Heroin	Narcotics other than heroin
Social/recreational reasons:
To have a good time	72.4a	65.9b	53.2c	30.8	29.6	19.5	46.2c	28.7c	27.8
To experiment	44.5	64.8c	84.5a	51.9c	49.4c	38.1	75.7a	64.6b	50.5b
To get high	47.8b	75.6a	63.8b	48.8	53.8b	38.7c	68.2b	67.3a	52.0a
Because of boredom	22.8	27.1	19.8	15.3	15.5	13.0	13.3	17.5	15.4
To fit in	10.4	11.0	5.0	4.1	3.9	2.6	5.3	11.8	2.8
Coping with negative affect reasons:
To relax	41.2	46.1	11.7	19.4	59.7a	66.7a	20.0	24.6	45.4c
To get away from problems	20.9	21.8	11.8	11.5	22.3	19.7	9.4	19.9	14.0
Because of anger/frustration	16.9	15.3	6.0	8.6	15.9	16.0	5.6	8.4	9.2
Drug effect reasons:
To increase drug effects	5.9	12.6	10.1	9.6	12.3	10.3	11.2	7.3	12.9
To decrease drug effects	0.8	2.1	1.2	2.6	4.7	3.1	2.5	5.6	1.5
Compulsive use reasons:
To get through the day	2.0	7.5	2.9	25.9	7.5	9.0	6.0	12.2	8.1
Because I am hooked	1.2	3.0	1.7	2.3	1.4	1.0	2.5	12.3	1.8
Coping with physical needs reasons:
To sleep	6.2	-	-	-	44.1	42.6b	-	-	25.1
To get more energy	-	-	-	61.3a	-	-	29.3	-	-
To stay awake	-	-	-	54.1b	-	-	20.4	-	-
To relieve pain	-	-	-	-	34.9	36.1	-	-	44.3
To control coughing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	16.0
Miscellaneous usage reasons:
Because it tastes good	46.8c	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
To seek deeper insights	4.2	15.2	34.8	5.1	5.7	5.4	8.6	19.9	7.7
To lose weight	-	-	-	35.6	-	-	-	-	-
As a heroin substitute	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.9

Note: ‘-’Indicates that the question was not asked for a particular drug. To illustrate how to read the table, the first cell indicates that of all seniors reporting alcohol use, 72.4% did so “to have a good time.”

^aMost frequently reported reason per drug.

^bSecond most frequently reported reason per drug.

^cThird most frequently reported reason per drug.