STATISTICS & TRENDS

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Indigenous Communities are Robbed of Their Land and Their Lives by Drug Trafficking and Addiction

Indigenous Americans in both North and South America spent much of the last 500 years subjected to land theft at the hands of settler-colonial powers. Today’s Indigenous communities face a similar existential crisis, this time in the form of land grabs...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Impact of Drug Use and Addiction on America’s Health

We know that families suffer terrible losses as a result of drug or alcohol abuse and addiction. But how does this situation affect our nation's health as a whole? We will catalog some of the impacts of this social problem.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

CDC Guidelines Suggest More Conservative Opioid Prescribing, but Is it Enough?

In the wake of the ongoing opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published conservative prescribing guidelines for U.S. doctors to follow. And while there have been some welcome reductions in prescribing...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Sackler Case Comes to a Close; Final Analysis and the Importance of Holding Pharma Companies Accountable

Consider this: Purdue Pharmaceuticals/the Sacklers versus thousands of plaintiffs nationwide. It was one of the most closely watched pharmaceutical litigations of our time, and it just came to a close. While there were some small victories in the case,...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Taking a Longer View: The Real Story of Our Overdose Losses

Truly understanding our losses to drug overdoses means taking a longer look at the numbers. That’s where the tragedy becomes crystal clear, along with the necessity to take more immediate action.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Drug Use and Addiction: The Financial Burden to Communities and Individuals

Anyone who has loved an addicted person knows: Addiction comes with enormous costs. Some of these costs are emotional and mental. The addicted person suffers from the overwhelming compulsion to use drugs and the physical sickness and deterioration that...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Would Eliminating Addiction Improve America’s Educational Success?

Heavy drug or alcohol abuse or addiction are tough at any age. When it affects those who should be completing their educations, it can derail the entirety of their future lives.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Every State Now Has a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

Public health experts usually agree that preventive efforts should be used as a front-line defense against health problems. In the case of drug and alcohol addiction, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs are useful preventive tools that states can use...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Women Now Drink Just as Much as Men, Why is This?

Recent findings now reveal that women in America drink just as much alcohol as men do, effectively closing the traditional alcohol consumption gap that used to exist between women and men. Why has this occurred?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Opioid Abuse Surged During the Pandemic – Treatment is the Answer for Those Now Addicted

There is compelling evidence that suggests opioid addiction and overdose rates soared during the Covid-19 pandemic. Was this a direct result of Covid-19? Or was it a continuation of America’s opioid addiction epidemic?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Rude Awakening – Researchers Use Wastewater to Measure Countries’ Drug Problems

If you were looking for an indicator that the human race has a problem with drug abuse, research uncovering detectable traces of drugs in urban wastewater might be a critical warning of just that. It sounds almost ludicrous to hear, but it’s true.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Supersized Alcopops – A Dangerous Alcoholic Beverage Marketed to Underage Consumers

Though alcohol is legal for adults 21 and older, alcohol is not a safe or healthy substance to consume. Case in point, new research shows how a particular type of alcohol is particularly appealing to and dangerous for… underage drinkers.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Are Medical Practitioners Still Overprescribing Opioids?

The foremost commitment of any medical practitioner is to do no harm, and the vast majority of physicians hold to that. But what happens when the very drugs doctors prescribe are harmful?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Death is Not the Only Negative Effect of Alcohol Misuse

When people consider drug or alcohol addiction, the most attention-grabbing, headline-worthy material is always the number of deaths caused by drinking or drug abuse. But as a recent study shows, death is only one of the serious and harmful outcomes of...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Overdoses are On the Rise, And It’s Not Just Opioids Anymore

When people think of America’s addiction epidemic, they almost always think of opioids. And while opioids have certainly played a huge role in the crisis, opioids are not the only drugs that kill—cocaine and methamphetamines are claiming lives as well.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Should We Build Prisons or Drug Rehab Centers?

America has been jailing people with drug problems en masse for 40+ years. This has been a widely unworkable approach to this country’s addiction crisis, proven so repeatedly by a wealth of research and study.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Surge in Cocaine and Meth Deaths are Linked to Opioid Misuse

In a recent brief by the CDC, experts published findings that more than 50% of cocaine-related deaths also had opioids present. The same was true with meth deaths. This is very concerning because it indicates a drug use trend where addicts may be more...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How New Alcohol Policy Could Save Lives

Remarkably, Lithuania’s alcohol-related vehicle fatalities decreased 82% during a 15-year long experimental phase in which alcohol-related restrictions were imposed on the general public (especially those driving while intoxicated). Should we consider...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Young Adults are Abusing Drugs More than Their Parents Did

According to a recent study, young people use drugs more than their parents did when their parents were young. By itself, this is concerning. But it becomes even more concerning when we find out what types of drugs the young adults of today are using.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Opioids and Virtual Street Corners – How Drugs are Illegally Purchased in the 21st-Century

A recent study revealed the scope of online drug sales, particularly as pertains to opioids. Unfortunately, this problem has gotten much worse than most experts initially believed.