Drug and Alcohol Rehabs Blog

Drug Abusing Population Growing in America

January 26, 2010 on 4:01 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the percentage of people over the age of 12 who used illicit drugs in the previous month has remained steady over the last six years at roughly eight percent. However, the story that is not being told is that due to the average population increase of about one percent each year in the United States, this means that there are about 25,000 more drug users each year, or about 150,000 more in the last six years combined.

While it is clear that more inpatient drug rehabs are needed, these figures make me wonder how many people stop using drugs every year. If it is not more than eight percent, then national drug prevention and drug rehab strategies aren’t working. We do already know that more money needs to be spent for addiction treatment programs, and one possible source is to divert funding from overseas enforcement operations.