By David Backes, August 22 2012
SAMSHA recently published a presentation, “Change, Challenge, & Opportunity-Substance Abuse and Addiction in a Changing Health Care Environment,” detailing the changes in teen substance abuse and addiction over the past several years. The presentation, available free online in PowerPoint format (direct download link), offers thorough data and several charts examining these changes, both positive and negative.
Key takeaways include:
Improvements
- Overall alcohol use dropped from 28.8 to 26.3 percent between 2002 and 2010
- Binge drinking dropped from 19.3 to 17.0 percent between 2002 and 2010
- Heavy drinking dropped from 6.2 to 5.1 percent between 2002 and 2010
- Methamphetamine users dropped by about half between 2006 and 2010
- Cocaine users dropped from 2.4 million in 2006 to 1.5 million in 2010
Upticks in Abuse
- Use of illicit drugs increased from 8% to 8.9% between 2008 and 2010
- Marijuana users increased from 14.4 million in 2007 to 17.4 million in 2010
- Increasing rates of prescription drug misuse – all ages, genders, and communities
See the full presentation for a much more detailed look at these changes.
David Backes writes the Friday news roundup for Reclaiming Futures and contributes articles about juvenile justice reform and adolescent substance abuse treatment to ReclaimingFutures.org. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University. David works as an account executive for Prichard Communications.
Updated: February 08 2018