Did You Know?

Addiction Treatment

Addiction treatment is as effective as treatments for other chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
 
Source: Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, National Institute on Drug Abuse, October 1999.
 

According to several studies, drug treatment reduces drug use by 46 percent and significantly decreases criminal activity during and after treatment.
 
Source: Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, National Institute on Drug Abuse, October 1999.
 

A CSAT Knowledge Development and Application program showed that one year after (alcohol/other drug) treatment, 40% of women eliminated or reduced their dependence on welfare.
 
Source: Substance Abuse in Brief, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, January 1999.

Tobacco

Despite a falling prevalence of smoking in the real world, the frequency of smoking in top-grossing movies in the USA has about doubled since 1990, when the US tobacco industry first promised Congress that it would stop paid product-placement in movies.
 
Source: Smoking in movies in 2001 exceeded rates in the 1960s, Tobacco Control; Kacirk K., Glantz S. 10: 397-98, 2001.
 

Adolescents who viewed the most smoking in movies were almost three times more likely to initiate smoking than those with the least amount of exposure.
 
Source: Effect of viewing smoking in movies on adolescent smoking initiation: a cohort study, Dalton, M, Sargent, J., Beach, M., Titus-Ernstoff, L., Gibson, J., Ahrens, M.B., Tickle, J., Heatherton, T The Lancet, June 10, 2003.
 

Movies account for more than half (52%) of new adolescent smokers. Every day, 1,070 teens light up their first cigarette because of smoking in the movies.
 
Source: www.SmokeFreeMovies.uscf.edu
 

An estimated 71.5 million Americans (30.4 percent of the population aged 12 or older) reported current use (past month use) of a tobacco product in 2002. About 61.1 million (26.0 percent) smoked cigarettes, 12.8 million (5.4 percent) smoked cigars, 7.8 million (3.3 percent) used smokeless tobacco, and 1.8 million (0.8 percent) smoked tobacco in pipes.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.
 

In the United States, it has been estimated that about 12 million people use spit tobacco regularly, with 3 million of them under the age of 21 years.
 
Source: Spit Tobacco: Just the Facts!, Tobacco Control Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2001.
 

More than 2,200 young people age 11-19 try spit tobacco, and 830 become regular users of spit tobacco every day. That means in one year, 824,000 young people first try spit tobacco and 304,000 becoming regular users.
 
Source: Spit Tobacco: Just the Facts!, Tobacco Control Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2001.

Alcohol

It is estimated that of the 15.1 million alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent individuals in the United States, approximately 4.6 million (nearly one-third) are women.
 
Source: Population projections using DMS-III criteria: Alcohol abuse and dependence, 1990-2000, Williams, G.D., Grant, B.F., Harford, T.C., and Noble, B.A., Alcohol Health & Research World, 13(4): 366-370, 1989.
 

Women who drink may also be at an increased risk for breast cancer. In one study, woman who drank two to five alcoholic drinks each day were 41 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than nondrinkers.
 
Source: A meta-analysis of alcohol consumption in relation to risk of breast cancer, Longnecker, M.P., Berlin, J.A., Orza, M.J., and Chalmers, T.C. Journal of the American Medical Association 260(5): 652-656, 1988.
 

Annual health care expenditures for alcohol-related problems amount to $22.5 billion. The total cost of alcohol problems is $175.9 billion a year (as compared to $114.2 billion for other drug problems and $137 billion for smoking).
 
Source: Economic costs of substance abuse – 1995. Dorothy P. Rice, proceedings of the Association of American Physicians, 1999.
 

Twenty-five to forty percent of all patients in the U.S. general hospital beds (not in maternity or intensive care) are being treated for complications of alcohol-related problems.
 
Source: The Cost of Substance Abuse to America’s Health Care System, Report 1: Medicaid Hospital Costs, Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, 1994.
 

Health care costs related to alcohol abuse are not limited to the user. Children of alcoholics who are admitted to the hospital average 62 percent more hospital days and 29 percent longer stays.
 
Source: Children of Alcoholics in the Medicaid System: Hidden Problems, Hidden Costs, Children of Alcoholics Foundation, 1990.
 

Alcohol-related car crashes are the number one killer of teens. Alcohol use is also associated with homicides, suicides, and drowning – the next three leading causes of death among youth.
 
Source: Preventing Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Problems, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention discussion paper, 1993.
 

Alcohol abuse costs American businesses an estimated $134 billion a year. People with untreated alcohol problems use twice as much sick leave as other employees. They have more on-the-job accidents. They are five times as likely to file a workers' compensation claim.
 
Source: US News and World Report, 2/2/04, “The Price of Booze”

Illicit Drugs

An estimated 9 million people aged 12 and older used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons in 1999; more than a quarter of that number reported using prescription drugs non-medically for the first time in the previous year.
 
Source: Research Report Series: Prescription Drugs Abuse and Addiction, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information, Rockville, MD, 2001.
 

In 2000, an estimated 7.7 percent of unemployed adults aged 18 or older needed treatment for illicit drugs, while only 1.6 percent of full-time employed adults needed treatment for an illicit drug problem.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD, 2001.
 

In 2000, an estimated 4.7 million people aged 12 or older (2.1 percent of the total population) needed treatment for an illicit drug abuse problem.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD, 2001.
 

In 2002, approximately 1.9 million persons aged 12 or older had used OxyContin non-medically at least once in their lifetime.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.
 

In 2002, an estimated 11.0 million persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. This corresponds to 4.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older. The rate was 10 percent or greater for each age from 17 to 25, with 21 year olds reporting the highest rate of any age (18.0 percent). Among adults aged 26 or older, the rate was 3.0 percent.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.

Illegal Drugs

Approximately 3.7 million Americans ages 12 and older reported trying heroin at least once during their lifetimes, representing 1.6% of the population ages 12 and older. Approximately 404,000 (0.2%) reported past year heroin use and 166,000 (0.1%) reported past month use.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.
 

In 2002, an estimated 2.0 million persons (.09%) were current cocaine users, 567,000 of whom used crack. 1.2 million persons, including 676,000 users of ecstasy, used hallucinogens. There were an estimated 166,000 current heroin users.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.
 

There were an estimated 2.6 million new marijuana users in 2001.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.
 

General Substance Abuse Facts

An estimated 22.0 million Americans in 2002 were classified with substance dependence or abuse (9.4 percent of the total population aged 12 or older). Of these, 3.2 million were classified with dependence on or abuse of both alcohol and illicit drugs. 3.9 million were dependent on or abused illicit drugs but not alcohol, and 14.9 million were dependent on or abused alcohol but not illicit drugs.
 
Source: Summary of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD.