Current Alcohol trends among Americans:
- Nearly 17.6 million adult Americans abuse alcohol or are alcoholic.
- 53 percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem. *1
Current Drug trends among Americans:
- more than 5.9 million persons a used cocaine in the past year
- 22.5 million Americans are classified with substance dependence or abuse.
- 70.3 million Americans are current users of a tobacco product *2
Drug and alcohol abuse statistics among youth are alarming:
- 1.5 million youth met criteria for admission to alcohol treatment (of these, only 120,000 received treatment)
- Each year about 1900 persons under 21 die in motor vehicle crashes that involve underage drinking. (About another 500 persons over age 21 also die in these crashes)
- Almost 20% of 8th-graders, and 42% of 10th-graders have been drunk at least once.
- Approximately 19% of 8th-graders, 35% of 10th-graders, and 48% of 12th-graders report having consumed alcohol during the past month.*3
- Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the highest rate of current use of any tobacco products (44.8 percent). *4
Researchers draw similar alarming conclusions about the broad use of drugs. They find that by the time seniors graduate from high school
- 51% have used an illicit drug
- 46% have used Marijuana
- 10% have used inhalants
- 8% have used Cocaine
- 76% have tried alcohol
- 53% have used cigarettes*4
Sources:
1. National Institute of Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism. Revised 2001.
NIH Publication. Bethesda, MD.
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/GettheFacts_HTML/facts.htm
2. National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health. 12 Aug. 2005.
http://oas.samhsa.gov/25k/cocaine/cocaine.htm
3. Initiative on Underage Drinking. November 2005
Bethseda, MD.
http://niaaa.hih.gov/Templates/CommonPage.aspx
4. Trends in Use. Revised December 2004.
National Institute of Health. Rockville, MD.
http://nida.nih.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html
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