Addiction and drug abuse infects the fabric of American society.
The numbers from the US government's survey are frightening, 8% of all Americans over 12 years old are currently using some form of illegal drug.
Drug abuse is any act of taking any drug either illegally or not in accordance with the proper dose. Addiction is the invisible line someone crosses the moment they always crave the drug at some point after stopping.
- Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug, 14.4 million current users
- There were 2.1 million current cocaine users aged 12 or older
- Hallucinogens were used in the past month by 1.0 million persons
- There were 6.9 persons aged 12 or older who used prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs not medically in the past month
- There were an estimated 529,000 current users of methamphetamine aged 12 or older
And there are many factors involved in drug abuse and drug addiction. Drug abuse and drug addiction shares many features with other chronic illnesses, including a tendency to run in families (heritability), an onset and course that is influenced by environmental conditions and behavior, and the ability to respond to appropriate treatment, which may include long-term lifestyle modification. Evidence from adoption and twin studies demonstrate that addiction, like other chronic diseases, is a heritable disorder and that genes play a role in vulnerability to addiction. Genes can also play a role in protecting individuals from addiction. As with all complex diseases, environmental risk and protective factors interact with genetics to determine the course and outcome of disease.
Many of America's top social economical and health problems relate directly to drug abuse and drug addiction. Families are destroyed by addiction. Everybody knows someone who is affected by drug addiction. Addiction is a vast and diverse subject. We offer specific, current information
about legal and illegal drug abuse as it relates to addiction and drug dependency.
Directly or indirectly, every community is affected by addiction, as is every family. Addiction is a major public health problem impacting society on multiple levels. Addiction impacts the 
individual, family, and community. Addiction, like heart disease, cancers, and type II diabetes, is a real and complex disease. Addiction can cause cardiovascular disease and change biology. No one chooses to be a drug addict or to develop heart disease. Sometimes people do choose behaviors that have undesirable effects.
Personal responsibility and behavioral change are major components of any credible addiction treatment program.
The number of people who started using drugs for the first time is an important measure of drug abuse and addiction as well as the current trends either upward or downward.
In 2007, there were 2.1 million persons who had used marijuana for the first time within the past 12 months; this averages to approximately 6,000 initiates per day. This estimate of past year initiates in 2007 was about the same as the number in 2006 (2.1 million), 2005 (2.1 million), 2004 (2.1 million), 2003 (2.0 million), and 2002 (2.2 million).
In 2007, there were 906,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months; this averages to approximately 2,500 initiates per day. This estimate was not significantly different from the number in 2006 (977,000). Most (66.5 percent) of the 0.9 million recent cocaine initiates were 18 or older when they first used. The average age at first use among recent initiates aged 12 to 49 was 20.2 years, which was similar to the average age in 2006 (20.3 years).
In 2007, there were 106,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used heroin for the first time within the past 12 months. The average age at first use among recent initiates aged 12 to 49 was 21.8 years. There were no significant changes in the number of initiates or in the average age at first use from 2006 to 2007.
Drugs First Initiating New Drug Addiction Abuse in 2007
The percentage of those who used marijuana when initiating illicit drug use was 56.2 percent
The percentage of those who used pain relievers when initiating illicit drug use was 19.0 percent
The percentage of those who used inhalants when initiating illicit drug use was 10.7 percent
The percentage of those who used tranquilizers when initiating illicit drug use was 6.5 percent
The percentage of those who used stimulants when initiating illicit drug use was 4.1 percent
The percentage of those who used hallucinogens when initiating illicit drug use was 2.0 percent
The percentage of those who used sedatives when initiating illicit drug use was 1.1 percent
The percentage of those who used cocaine when initiating illicit drug use was 0.6 percent
Prescription drug abuse has grown to be the number one drug abuse problem today. It has infested the entire youth population.
- Prescription drug addiction is the second leading cause of accidental deaths
- 1/3 of the people who started abusing last year, used prescription drugs first
- Prescription drugs kill more people than all the other illegal drugs combined
- only marijuana is abuse more than pills in the US
- 1/5 of all teenagers abuse prescription medications
- 9% of the entire US population admits misusing prescription meds
