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Just the Facts Main
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National
Substance Abuse Facts |
| Alcohol |
| Beer
consumed by the highest 10th percentile of
drinkers by volume represents 42 percent of the
reported alcohol consumed in the United States. |
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Source: Rogers, J.., & Greenfield, T. (1999). Beer
drinking accounts for most hazardous alcohol
consumption reported in the United States. Journal
of Studies on Alcohol, 60 (6).
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| Beer
accounts for 67 percent of the alcohol consumption
reported in the United States. |
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Source: Rogers, J.., & Greenfield, T. (1999). Beer
drinking accounts for most hazardous alcohol
consumption reported in the United States. Journal
of Studies on Alcohol, 60 (6).
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| The
societal costs of alcohol-related crashes averaged
$0.80 per drink consumed. |
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Source: Jenson, A., et al. (1999). Impaired
Driving in the United States, State Fact Sheets.
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation:
Landover, MD.
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Two-thirds of partner abuse victims (those abused
by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or
girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a
factor; among spouse abuse victims, the offender
was drinking in three out of four cases. |
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Source: Greenfield L. (1998). Alcohol and Crime:
An Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of
Alcohol Involvement in Crime. Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Report #NCJ-168632.
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Fatally injured drivers who have been drinking are
least likely to have been wearing safety belts. |
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Source: National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. (1999) NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts,
Alcohol, DOT HS 809 086.
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Frequent binge drinkers make up only 19% of the
college population, yet account for 68% of alcohol
consumed by college students. |
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Source: Harvard School of Public Health College
Alcohol Study, 1999.
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According to a Harvard School of Public
Health study, 20.4% of college students who
consumed alcohol drank on 10 or more occasions in
the past 30 days; 41.5% of college students who
consumed alcohol reported "usually" binging when
they drank; 52.3% of college students who consumed
alcohol reported drinking to get drunk; and 78.8%
of non-binge-drinking college students report
experiencing second-hand binge drinking effects
(i.e., arguments, interrupted sleep or studying,
unwanted sexual advances, etc.). |
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Source: Harvard School of Public Health College
Alcohol Study, 1999.
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Nearly 10 million people aged 12 to 20 (28% of
this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the
month prior to a 2000 survey. Of those
individuals, almost 7 million (19%) were binge
drinkers and 2 million (6%) were heavy drinkers. |
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Source: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
2001.
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| Tobacco |
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Cigarette smoke contains over 3,000 chemicals,
including acetone (nail polish remover), hydrogen
cyanide (rat poison), nicotine (cockroach killer),
hydrazine (rocket fuel) and formaldehyde
(embalming fluid). |
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Source: Stop Teenage Addiction to Tobacco, 1999 -
http://www.stat.org
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Smokers have twice the risk of dying of heart
attacks as do nonsmokers. |
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Source: American Cancer Society. (1999) Quitting
Smoking.
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Twenty four hours after quitting, your chance of
heart attack decreases. |
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Source: American Cancer Society. (1999) Quitting
Smoking.
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Cigarette smoking in adults dropped from 42% in
1965 to 25% in 1995, to 24.1% in 1998. |
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Source: American Cancer Society. (1999) Quitting
Smoking.
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Quitting reduces your risk of dying early by 50%
within 5 years of quitting. After 15 years the
risk is the same as if you had never smoked. |
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Source: Orleans C., and Slade J. (Eds.) (1993)
Health Implications of Tobacco Addiction, Nicotine
Addiction: Principles and Management.
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Quitting reduces your risk of lung cancer by
30-50% after 10 years of abstinence. The longer
you stay quit, the lower the risk. |
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Source: Orleans C., and Slade J. (Eds.) (1993)
Health Implications of Tobacco Addiction, Nicotine
Addiction: Principles and Management.
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| Illicit
Drugs |
| Cocaine,
Heroin, Methamphetamine, and Marijuana Are
Greatest Drug Threats to U.S. — Adapted by
Cesar from National Drug Intelligence Center,
"National Drug Threat Assessment
2002," 2001. Table
showing drug, availability, demand, production
and distribution. (pdf file) |
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Source: CESAR FAX, March 11, 2002 |
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| Illicit
Drug Abuse Cost Society an Estimated $160.7
Billion in 2000.
Bar graph showing Cost of illicit Drug Abuse to
Society (in Billions of dollars) from 1992-2000.
Y axis shows billions of dollars — x axis
shows productivity, health and other. (pdf file) |
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Source: CESAR FAX, February 18, 2002 — Adapted
by CESAR from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, The Economic Cost of Drug Abuse
in the United States, 1992-1998, 2001. |
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| From
1998 to 1999, figures from the Drug Abuse Warning
Network for deaths from ecstasy increased 400%. |
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Source: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
(April 6, 2001) Prevention Alert, 4 (7).
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Emergency room visits involving ecstasy grew
nine-fold from 1996 to 1999 (319 to 2,850); most
patients were under the age of 25. |
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Source: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
(April 6, 2001) Prevention Alert, 4 (7)
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| Chronic use of MDMA was found, first in laboratory
animals and more recently in humans, to produce
long-lasting, perhaps permanent, damage to
the neurons that release serotonin, and consequent
memory impairment. |
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Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999.
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| In
2000, an estimated 14 million Americans were
current illicit drug users, meaning they had used
an illicit drug during the month prior to
interview. This estimate represents 6.3% of the
population 12 years old and older. |
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Source: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
2001.
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Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.
It is used by 76% of current illicit drug users.
Approximately 59% of current illicit drug users
consumed only marijuana, 17% used marijuana and
other illicit drugs and the remaining 24% used an
illicit drug but not marijuana in the past month.
Therefore, about 41% of current illicit drug users
in 2000 (an estimated 5.7 million Americans) use
illicit drugs other than marijuana and hashish,
with or without using marijuana as well. |
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Source: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
2001.
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| All
Drugs |
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Youths who were past month users of both
cigarettes and alcohol were more than twice as
likely to have used illicit drugs than youths who
used only cigarettes or only alcohol. |
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Source: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
2001.
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According to one study, 73% of rape assailants and
55% of rape victims used alcohol or other drugs
prior to the assault. |
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Source: Meilman, P., Alcohol-Induced Sexual
Behavior on Campus, Journal of American College
Health (July 1993).
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