Youth Substance Use in Arizona, Stratified by Border Counties
Results of the Arizona Youth Survey, 2012
Below is a visual representation of lifetime substance use in Arizona among youth and current (past 30 day) use among
youth as recorded in the 2012 Arizona Youth Survey. You will also find information about how old youth were in
Arizona as a whole and in the four border counties with Mexico when they first tried alcohol, began drinking alcohol
regularly, smoked marijuana, or used methamphetamines.
This graph demonstrates the state percentage of youth who reported in 2012 having had alcohol, marijuana, prescription
drugs or over the counter drugs ever in their lifetime. It also shows the results separated by county for the four Arizona
border counties with Mexico. On the right side of the graph, the bars show how many youth reported in 2012 that they
had used alcohol, marijuana, prescription or over the counter drugs in the past 30 days. Again, the results are shown for
Arizona as a whole and for the four Arizona-Mexico border counties.
Percentage of Youth Reporting Substance Use in Their Lifetime
In your lifetime, on how many occasions (if any) have you:
(One or more occasions)
Yuma
2012
Pima
2012
Santa
Cruz
2012
Cochise
2012
State
2012
Alcohol
had alcoholic beverages (beer, wine or hard
liquor) to drink - more than just a few sips?
40.7
55.6
43.7
57.2
51.7
Marijuana
used marijuana?
14.1
32.2
19.4
25.3
28.7
Any Rx Drugs
combined results of prescription stimulant,
sedative and pain reliever questions (see
appendix for details)
12.8
17.3
10.6
16.3
16.6
Over-the-Counter
Drugs•
used over-the-counter drugs (such
as cough syrup, cold medicine, or diet
pills) for the purposes of getting high?
6.2
9.6
7.5
9.9
9.3
Percentage of Youth Reporting Current Substance Use
Yuma
2012
Pima
2012
Santa
Cruz
2012
Cochise
2012
State
2012
had alcoholic beverages (beer, wine or hard
liquor) to drink - more than just a few sips?
18.3
30.7
23.4
30.8
28.1
how many times have you had 5 or more
alcoholic drinks in a row in the past 2
weeks?
10.3
17.3
13.7
18.7
15.7
Marijuana
used marijuana?
3.8
16.3
8.4
10.8
14.3
Any Rx Drugs
combined results of prescription stimulant,
sedative and pain reliever questions (see
appendix for details)
7.0
8.1
6.2
9.2
7.9
Over-the-Counter
Drugs
used over-the-counter drugs (such
as cough syrup, cold medicine, or diet
pills) for the purposes of getting high?
3.4
4.8
3.3
4.9
4.4
In the past 30 days, on how many occasions (if any) have you:
(One or more occasions)
Alcohol
Alcohol Heavy Use***
The following graph represents the age of youth in the four border counties (as well as in Arizona as a whole) when
they first tried alcohol, began drinking alcohol regularly, smoked marijuana, or used methamphetamines.
The Average of First Substance Use by County
Average Age of Onset (How old were you when first…)
had more than a sip or two of
beer, wine or hard liquor?
Alcohol
began drinking alcoholic
beverages regularly?
Regular alcohol use
Yuma
2012
Pima
2012
Santa Cruz
2012
Cochise
2012
State
2012
11.8
12.9
12.8
12.7
12.8
13.2
14.6
14.4
14.3
14.4
12.4
13.5
13.5
13.6
13.6
13.2
13.3
13.6
13.0
13.0
Marijuana
smoked marijuana?
used methamphetamines?
Methamphetamines
Note: n/a indicates that the question was not asked in that particular administration of the survey.