Methaqualone - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

When methaqualone was introduced in the United States in the 1960s, it was a drug that could be taken by anyone with a doctor's prescription. This meant that the abuse of the drug easily crossed lines of culture, race, and economic status. It was neither an expensive drug accessible only to the wealthy, nor a budget-class drug associated only with low-income users. It did become a drug of choice on the rock music scene, which made it appeal to mainstream American teens. Its reputation as a love-enhancing substance popularized the drug on college campuses.

Major Drop in Use during the 1980s

Illegal use of the brand drug Quaalude was widespread on college campuses in the 1970s. Its use rose dramatically between 1978 and 1981, but dropped very quickly after the drug was made illegal in the mid-1980s. In 1981, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the University of Michigan, 10.4 percent of college students said they had tried methaqualone at least once in their lifetimes, and 6.5 percent of college students reported having used it without a prescription at least once in the previous year. In the 1989 survey, which was done five years after the drug was reclassified as a Schedule I substance, only 0.2 percent of college students said they had used methaqualone during the previous year.

A similar reduction in use took place among American high school students, according to the Monitoring the Future survey. This annual study follows drug use patterns of secondary school students in the United States. In 1981, 8 percent of American twelfth-graders surveyed reported use of methaqualone during the previous twelve months, as compared to 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, in 1991 and 2003.