Demographic Characteristics of Groups Classified by Patterns of Multiple Drug Abuse: A 1969–1971 Sample

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Abstract
Patient characteristics are described in relation to pretreatment usage combinations of 8 classes of illicit drugs for 11,380 drug abusers admitted between 1969 and 1971 to drug treatment centers participating in the NIDA-TCU [National Institute of Drug Addiction-Texas Christian University] Drug Abuse Reporting Program. From these data, 9 basic patterns of drug use were defined. The most frequent, involving the daily use of heroin or other opioids only, characterized 27% of the patients. Four patterns involving heroin (at least weekly) with various combinations of cocaine, barbiturates and marihuana accounted for another 29%, 2 patterns of polydrug use (3 or more nonopioid drugs, with and without opioids daily) included 16%, and the remaining 28% of the patients were represented by patterns of a less specific nature. The distribution of patients across drug-use patterns was unrelated to sex, but was associated with race-ethnic background and age.

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