SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 2.4 million persons aged 12 and older initiated nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers (analgesics) such as Vicodin within the past year in 2004.
Among persons who initiated nonmedical use of pain relievers in the past year, 48.0% used Vicodin®, Lortab®, or Lorcet® nonmedically; 34.3% had used Darvocet®, Darvon®, or Tylenol® with codeine nonmedically; and 20.0% had used Percocet®, Percodan®, or Tylox® nonmedically.
Of the past year new users of nonmedical pain relievers such as Vicodin, 73.8% had used another illicit drug prior to using pain relievers nonmedically.
Combined data from 2002 to 2005 were used to examine the patterns of nonmedical prescription pain reliever use in general and the nonmedical use specifically of oxycodone and hydrocodone products. Hydrocodone products include Vicodin®, Lortab®, Lorcet®/LorcetPlus®, generic hydrocodone, and other pain relievers containing hydrocodone that respondents specified.
An annual average of 4.8% of persons aged 12 or older (11.4 million persons) used a prescription pain reliever nonmedically in the 12 months prior to the survey. Of the persons aged 12 or older who first used pain relievers nonmedically in the past year, 57.7% used hydrocodone products such as Vicodin.
