Wednesday, December 28, 2011

US Drug Use Is On The Rise

By David Greene


Recently, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration finished its survey results on drug use in the US. The results showed some encouraging improvements along with some concerning statistics.

One interesting finding of the study was in regards to methamphetamines. The number of users over age 12 has gone down by 50% between the years 2006 to 2010. Initially was over 731,000 and the most recent study showed 353,000. It appears that methamphetamine which was extremely popular back in early 2000's is falling out of vogue.

However, all is not well in the survey. For people in the US over age 12, the results showed 22.6 million illicit drug users in the US, which is actually increased from 2008. Over half of those who used prescription narcotics for a non-medical reason got them from either a friend or relative who just gave the drugs to them for free.

Illicit drug use in the US rose 1.5% in those aged 18 to 25. Marijuana was the predominant reason for this increase. About 17.4 million people in the US use marijuana. The survey did not explain how much of the increase in marijuana was due to medical marijuana for those using it with a debilitating condition.

If you have to pick an "illicit drug" to see a rise in, marijuana would understandably be the least worrisome. Sixteen states have now legalized it for medicinal use along with the District of Columbia, and approximately 10 states have pending legislation to do the same.

Cocaine use actually dropped by 40% from 2.6 million to 1.5 million between 2006 and 2010. Another encouraging trend was that teen drinking has dropped one percent between 2009 and 2010 along with tobacco use.

There are certain encouraging trends in the survey, such as the significant drops in cocaine and methamphetamines along with less teenage alcohol use. Interestingly, there are over 20 million Americans who need help with substance abuse, but only around 10% to actually get the help they need.

There are great treatments available for substance abuse. Blood drug users denied a problem and do not see it Israel which can be detrimental to their long-term health obviously period people tend to think of prescription medicines is not a problem because it was actually a doctor who wrote for their description.

How can they be harmful if that's the case? Going to rehab in America has less stigma than it used to. So hopefully more addicted individuals will utilize the option and get their lives back on track.




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