Updated:  July 2023

“Use” of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana refers to the any scope of use in the past 30 days, ranging from 1 day to 30, and “Misuse” refers to improper or unhealthy use or use by anyone under legal age.  

This measure represents the percent of adults 18+ with depression who used of two or more substances in the last 30 days which may range from someone who had one drink and used marijuana once during the month or a daily tobacco user who had one drink, to someone who misuses multiple substances on a near daily basis.  People who frequently use multiple substances or begin using substances at a young age are most at risk of substance use disorders.  Physical dependence can occur with the regular (daily or almost daily) use of any substance, legal or illegal.

2018 and 2019 does not include e-cigarettes.

Due to small numbers, two years of data were combined for each datapoint. Over the past few years, the percentage using two or more substance has been increasing for this population.  Alcohol use has ranged from 61%-65% of adults while marijuana use increased from a low of 7% in 2013 to 15% in 2017 as marijuana legalization legislation was enacted.  Cigarette use has been remained relatively stable, at 17-18% since 2012 and 3% of adults used electronic cigarettes in 2017.   Prescription drug misuse is between 6% and 8% since 2011.