The characteristics of cocaine users among young adults in Sydney

To describe the prevalence and pattern of cocaine use among young Sydney adults interviewed during a study of the "market position" of cocaine.

A telephone survey of young Sydney adults.

A total of 499 young Sydney men and women aged between 14 and 35 were selected to ensure a sample of 300 persons who used alcohol and tobacco at least weekly, and who had been offered or had tried at least one illicit drug.

These were the prevalence of having ever used cocaine, the frequency of cocaine use, the prevalence of daily alcohol and tobacco use, and of ever having tried marijuana, sedatives, designer drugs, amphetamines and heroin.

Thirteen per cent of the sample (95% confidence interval [CI], 10%-16%) had ever tried cocaine, of whom only 20% (CI, 15%-25%) were current users. Cocaine users were distinguished from non-users by being more likely to be daily users of tobacco (odds ratio, 2.1; CI, 1.3-3.6) and alcohol (odds ratio, 3.0; CI, 1.7-5.6), and to have tried marijuana (odds ratio, 7.1; CI, 3.2-15.9), sedatives (odds ratio, 11.4; CI, 6.4-20.7), designer drugs (odds ratio, 17.2; CI, 9.2-32.2), amphetamines (odds ratio, 27.1; CI, 14.3-51.3), and heroin (odds ratio, 36.5; CI, 14.0-94.9). The odds of having tried cocaine increased with the number of different types of illicit drugs that the person had tried.

The prevalence of ever having tried cocaine was low among a sample of young adults selected to ensure an over-representation of illicit drug users. Cocaine users were more likely to have experimented with a variety of different types of illicit drugs. Only a minority of those who had ever tried cocaine were current users.