Ease of Obtaining Illicit Drugs

Overall, 55 percent of all youths aged 12 to 17 reported it would be easy to obtain marijuana. More than one in four youths felt that it would be easy to obtain crack, compared to 25 percent for cocaine, 19 percent for LSD, and 16 percent for heroin.3 Females were more likely than males to report that LSD, cocaine, crack, and heroin were easy to obtain, but females and males were equally likely to report that marijuana was easy to obtain (Figure 1). Youths aged 16 or 17 were more likely to indicate that marijuana, LSD, cocaine, crack, and heroin were easy to obtain than youths aged 12 to 15 (Figure 2).
Youths in metropolitan areas were more likely to report that LSD or cocaine were easy to obtain than youths in non-metropolitan areas. Youths living in large metropolitan areas were more likely to report that heroin was easy to obtain than those living in small metropolitan or non-metropolitan areas. Perceptions of the ease of obtaining marijuana or crack were similar among youths living in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.