Substance Abuse Information

The use and abuse of mood altering chemicals is a constant and ever present problem. Crystal methamphetamine is still having a profound influence on a vast number of people.

Now the biggest problem on the list is prescription drug abuse and addiction. It has always been a problem but recently it has escalated dramatically.

The effects and impact all of this has on all of us is mind boggling.

• Acid/LSD
• Alcohol
• Club Drugs
• Cocaine
• Ecstasy/MDMA
• Heroin
• Inhalants
• Marijuana
• Methamphetamine
• PCP/Phencyclidine
• Prescription Medications
• Smoking/Nicotine
• Steroids (Anabolic)

Substance Abuse is Costly

Substance abuse costs the U.S. more than $484 billion per year. This includes health care expenditures, lost earnings, and costs associated with crime and accidents.

The impact of substance abuse on an individual as well as society in general, is astronomical. Cigarettes are included in this discussion. Substance abuse is a huge topic. we will try and outline some the issues and information about the subject, including the cost, the causes, the effects, impact and what can be done to reduce substance abuse.

And there are many factors involved in substance abuse. Substance abuse shares many features with other chronic illnesses, including a tendency to run in families (heritably), 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.

Substance abuse is virtually the same as drug abuse. The terms will be used interchangeably. "Substance abuse" means abusing any mood altering chemical.

The Difference Between Use and Abuse

This is a fine line. Most people who use drugs, are substance abusers. Not everyone who is a substance user is a substance abuser, however. Substance abuse occurs when a substance user uses a mood altering chemical on a regular basis. Using on a regular basis means using a drug, any drug, more than once a month. This level of frequency may vary if the person is using more than one drug, for example.

If the person has not used any mood altering chemical for more than a month, they probably don't have a substance abuse problem. However, someone who uses heavily every month would still be considered a substance abuser.

One real good criteria for whether someone is a substance abuser is whether using issomething they have come to rely or focus on. Do they want or need to use drug(s) to have fun, for example. Abusing drugs can also be determined by whether any consequences have occurred as a result of using drugs.

Crime and Substance Abuse

60% of adults in Federal prisons are there for drug-related crimes.

87% of people arrested, test positive for drugs

Health and Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a major public health problem. Many of America's top medical problems can be directly linked to substance abuse.

Cancer

Tobacco contributes to 11-30% of cancer deaths.

Heart Disease

Tobacco is responsible for approximately 30% of all heart disease deaths each year.

HIV/AIDS

Approximately one-third of AIDS cases reported and most cases of hepatitis C in the United States are associated with injection drug use. Approximately half of pediatric AIDS cases result from injection drug use or sex with injection drug users by the child's mother.

Mental Illness

People with mental illness are particularly at risk for problems related to substance abuse.

More Serious Consequences of Substance Abuse

Drugged Driving

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drugs are used by approximately 10 to 22 percent of drivers involved in crashes, often in combination with alcohol.

Violence

At least half of the individuals arrested for major crimes including homicide, theft, and assault were under the influence of illicit drugs around the time of their arrest.

Stress

Exposure to stress is one of the most powerful triggers of substance abuse in vulnerable individuals and of relapse in former addicts.

Child Abuse

At least two-thirds of patients in drug abuse treatment centers say they were physically or sexually abused as children.

Adolescence

This is a time period of high vulnerability to drug abuse and other risk taking behaviors.

Babies

Infants born to women who smoke during pregnancy have a lower average birth weight and may be at increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorders, and childhood obesity. Babies born to mothers who abuse cocaine during pregnancy can be born prematurely and have low birth weights. There may be as many as 45,000 cocaine-exposed babies per year.

Child Abuse

Approximately 50% to 80% of all child abuse and neglect cases substantiated by child protective services involve some degree of substance abuse by the child's parents.

Community

Homelessness: 31% of America's homeless suffer from drug abuse or alcoholism.

Education

Children with prenatal cocaine exposure are more likely (1.5 times) to need special education services in school. Special education costs for this population are estimated at $23 million per year.

The Workplace

Illicit drug users were more likely than others to have missed 2 or more days of work in the past month and to have worked for three or more employers in the past year.

Trends of Substance Abuse

Alcohol

Overall, the prevalence of underage (ages 12–20) past-month alcohol use and bingedrinking has been unchanged since 2002. In 2006, about 10.8 million persons (28.3 percent) in this age group reported drinking in the past month. However, there has been a long-term decline in past-year alcohol use among 8th-graders (persons aged 12 to 13 years), from 46.8 percent in 1994 to 31.8 percent in 2007.

In 2006, an estimated 30.5 million people (12.4 percent) aged 12 or older reported driving under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. Although this reflects a downward trend from 14.2 percent in 2002, it remains cause for concern.

Tobacco

According to NIDA’s MTF survey, smoking rates are at their lowest point in the history of the survey. In the past year, smoking prevalence among 8th-graders—13- to 14-year olds, the youngest age group surveyed—dropped in all prevalence categories: lifetime, past-month, and daily use. Daily smoking rates dropped to 3 percent in 2007, down from a peak of 10.4 percent in 1996. The NSDUH survey found that between 2002 and 2006, the rate of past-month cigarette use by 12- to17-year olds declined from 13 percent to 10.4 percent. Another encouraging trend is the decrease in cigarette use by young adults aged 18 to 25 years: Use decreased from 40.8 percent in 2002 to 38.4 percent in 2006.

Illicit Drugs

Illicit drug use by the Nation’s adolescents is declining for almost all specific types of drugs. When data for 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders are combined, they show that overall, past-month illicit drug use declined by 24 percent between 2001 and 2007, dropping from 19.4 percent to 14.8 percent. The downward trend in illicit drug use has been driven largely by declines in marijuana smoking.

• Past-year marijuana use among 10th-graders dropped from a peak of 34.8 percent in 1997 to 24.6 percent in 2007.
  
• Among 12th-graders, use declined from a peak of 38.5 percent in 1997 to 31.7 percent in 2007.
  
• Annual prevalence of marijuana use by 8th-graders is down to 10.3 percent in 2007, from a 1996 peak of 18.3 percent.
  
• In the 5 years between 2002 and 2006, the level of current marijuana use among persons aged 12 to 17 years declined from 8.2 percent in 2002 to 6.7 percent in 2006.
  
• The trend was also seen among older groups. From 2002 to 2006, the rate of current use of marijuana among 18- to 25-year olds dropped from 17.3 to 16.3 percent.

Current cocaine use has remained stable between 2002 and 2006 (there were 2.4 million users in 2006 aged 12 or older); however, a positive trend is the decline in use of crack cocaine, particularly among younger age groups. From 2001 to 2007, the percentage of 10th-graders reporting past-month use of crack declined from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent.

Despite these downward trends, the MTF survey data highlight some problem areas. For example, there has been a drop in perceived harmfulness of hallucinogens. For the third year in a row, there was a drop in perceived harmfulness of MDMA (ecstasy) among 8th-graders. Tenth-graders reported a decrease in perceived harmfulness of LSD and MDMA, and a decrease in disapproval of LSD. This change in attitude is reflected in an increase in past-year use of MDMA by both 10th- and 12th-graders over the past 2 years.

Prescription Drugs

Also of concern is the increase in past-month non medical use of prescription drugs among young adults aged 18 to 25, from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 6.4 percent in 2006. The increase is being driven largely by the use of pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin.

Furthermore, in 2006, the number of new initiates in the non medical use of prescription pain relievers was roughly even with that of marijuana among persons aged 12 or older.

Trends

As in past years, young adults (aged 18-25) reported the highest rates of substance abuse. About 20 percent said they abused one or more illicit drugs; 16.4 percent said they abused marijuana, which topped the list of abused drugs in this cohort. Abuse rates for marijuana and most of the other drugs have changed little in the past 6 years. However, the decline in abuse of the stimulants cocaine and methamphetamine in this group runs counter to that pattern. In 2007, for example, 1.7 percent of the young adults reported cocaine abuse, a 23 percent decline from the previous year. Methamphetamine abuse in this age group dropped by a third, to 0.4 percent.

By contrast, 12- to 17-year-olds have reported a steady decline in overall illicit drug use, from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.5 percent in 2007. Driving the decline in this cohort has been an 18 percent drop in marijuana use, from 8.2 percent in 2002 to 6.7 percent in 2007. Inhalants are the only drug category that showed no decline among adolescents over that 6-year period, although rates for some drugs have leveled off since 2005.

Rates of drug abuse tend to decline steadily after the age of 25. However, as more baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) enter the 50-59 age range, illicit drug use in that group has risen, jumping from 2.7 percent in 2002 to 5 percent in 2007. "Illicit drug use has historically been more prevalent in the baby boomer cohort. As its members age into the 50-59 age category, the prevalence increases relative to prior cohorts in this age group," says Dr. Marsha Lopez of NIDA's Division of Epistemology, Services and Prevention Research.

Marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug across the survey, with an estimated 14.4 million past-month users. In 2007, roughly 2.1 million people smoked marijuana for the first time, and a similar number started using prescription painkillers for non medical purposes; these drugs drew more initiates last year than any other. Of the estimated 6.9 million people who used prescription psychotherapeutic drugs non medically, 5.2 million chose painkillers, representing a 16 percent rise in non medical use of these drugs since 2004. On a positive note, the 2007 survey found a significant 1-year decline in the non medical use of prescribed stimulants.

In 2007, as in previous years, men reported higher rates of past-month illicit drug use than women (10.4 percent versus 5.8 percent). Among ethnic groups, American Indians/Alaska natives had the highest rate of illicit drug use (12.6 percent) of any racial/ethnic group, followed by multiracial individuals (11.8 percent), African-Americans (9.5 percent), whites (8.2 percent), Hispanics (6.6 percent), and Asians (4.2 percent). No group had a significant change from the previous year.