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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Changes in federal drug and sentencing laws in the 1980s have led to longer prison sentences for drug offenders convicted in federal court, according to a government report released Sunday.

The Justice Department study found that prison terms given to convicted federal drug offenders increased from an average of 62 months to 74 months between 1986 and 1999. The actual time offenders could expect to serve more than doubled, from an average of 30 months to 66 months.

A rise in the number of federal drug defendants paralleled the increase in the length of sentences. The report said 29,306 people were charged with federal drug offenses in 1999, compared to 11,854 people in 1984.

Sixty-five percent of all federal drug defendants in 1999 had a previous arrest record, with 28 percent having five or more prior arrests. The study said that nearly 90 percent of drug defendants were convicted and about 62 percent of those convicted were subject to a statutory minimum prison sentence.

In 1999, those who served the longest sentences -- an average of 133 months -- were drug offenders who also possessed firearms. Convicted defendants with extensive prior records served an average of 125 months; drug offenders involved with crack cocaine averaged 114 months.

The study said changes in federal criminal law governing sentencing and drug crime caused the generally longer prison terms, singling out the Sentencing Reform Act, Comprehensive Crime Control Act, Anti-Drug Abuse Act from the 1980s.

The Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act, passed in 1994, partially turned the tide by exempting some first-time nonviolent federal drug offenders from minimum sentences if they meet certain requirements.

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Of the 32,288 suspects referred to federal prosecutors during 1999, 31 percent were charged with offenses involving marijuana; 28 percent, cocaine powder; 15 percent, crack cocaine; 15 percent; methamphetamine; 7 percent opiates, and 3 percent, other drugs.

Not all of the suspects were subsequently convicted.