STATISTICS & TRENDS

STATISTICS & TRENDS

2020 Drug Use Report—What We Can Learn from Studying a Global Problem

Drug addiction is growing in the United States, and it's growing across the world, too. Every year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime releases a world report, a document that highlights drug-related issues across the planet.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Often Do Medical Experts Become Addicted to the Very Substances They Sometimes Must Prescribe?

Addiction can crop up among any set of people. No one is safe from the risk of addiction. Even highly trained medical experts still fall prey to the very substances that they sometimes must prescribe.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

OxyContin Maker Closed, Fined $8 Billion

The maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges for its role in creating and advancing the nation's opioid epidemic. Unfortunately, this does not even come close to holding Purdue accountable for the...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Positive Drug Tests Reach Record High

According to new data, not only was the overall number of positive drug tests at a 16-year high in 2019, but the rate of positive tests (percentage of drug tests administrated that came out positive) was also at an all-time high. What does this data tell...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Strong Warning from the Surgeon General’s Office on Drug Addiction

The office of the Surgeon General is responsible for assessing and addressing the serious health problems that the American people face every year. With that in mind, it is no surprise that the Surgeon General has released several reports on the state...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Why Does Alcohol Cause More Deaths in Some States than in Others?

While alcohol is a problem everywhere, it does not affect all states equally. As the drug epidemic has swept across America, so too has alcohol addiction become more severe.—and it seems to touch down with particular severity in certain regions.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

What Is the Average Age of Someone Who Dies from a Drug Overdose?

While there is no question that the United States is struggling with an addiction crisis of epic proportions, some of the more telling details of the crisis are not broadly discussed. For example, what could we learn by examining what age range of Americans...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Many Cardiac Deaths May Actually Be Drug Overdoses

It’s known that drug and alcohol abuse has a harmful effect on one’s cardiovascular system. However, new data suggests that the real threat of drugs on one's heart may have been entirely underestimated.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

After a Long Decline, Drug Overdose Deaths Experience Upturn

In September 2019, I wrote a perhaps overly optimistic piece about the fact that America was finally seeing a downturn in overdose deaths. In the more than ten years I’d been writing about this topic, I had only seen the steadiest of climbs in these...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

What is the Scope of Addiction in the World?

The drug epidemic that has swept across America is not just a problem in the States. When the camera lens is zoomed out to examine the planet as a whole, it becomes clear that the entire world struggles with a growing drug addiction emergency.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Winnipeg Experiences a Surge in Opioid Overdoses During COVID-19 – What Can We Learn from That Crisis?

What happens when a city experiences a massive surge in drug overdose deaths? What resources do residents have to help addicts before they overdose? One Canadian city is forced to find out.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Growing Drug Problem in Maryland Raises Concern

Drug overdoses are one of the leading health problems in the United States. And while drug addiction is present in every U.S. state, the crisis touches down with more force in some states than in others. Maryland is one such state.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Support Recovery through International Overdose Awareness Day & National Recovery Month

More Americans are beginning to understand the sweeping addiction epidemic that this country faces.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Opiate Addiction Surges in Suburban America

It's no mystery that drug and alcohol addiction statistics surged through the first two decades of the 21st-century. As the drug problem grew (mainly involving opiates), it began to affect demographics that previously had very minimal interactions with...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Addiction in the Nation’s Capital

If there is one lesson the drug addiction epidemic of the 21st-century has taught us, it's that substance abuse can touch down anywhere.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

What Factors Lead to Excessive Alcohol Consumption in New Hampshire?

With 88,000 people in the United States dying from alcohol-related causes each year, there is no doubt that alcohol abuse is a considerable public health problem in ALL parts of the nation.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Focus on Alcohol and COVID-19: Is There a Connection?

As countries around the world impose quarantines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, alcohol appears to be a complicating factor. Because so many confusing ideas are swirling through our news reports and social media, it's important to focus on the facts...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Addiction and Domestic Abuse—Treating Addiction Helps Reduce Abuse Statistics

Drug and alcohol addiction causes untold harm not only to those immediately affected but also to their family members and loved ones. Sadly, domestic abuse, another serious problem, often appears in the same households where addiction occurs. How can both...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Young People Increasingly Use Juuls and E-Cigarettes to Vape Cannabis Products

Young people are at a formative, and impressionable time as they come into adolescence and move forward into adulthood. Sadly, more of them are being sucked into a rising trend of marijuana use, particularly marijuana use via Juuls, electronic cigarettes,...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

New Mexico Faces Unique Threats in Addiction Crisis

Every state has been affected by the addiction epidemic to some degree. New Mexico faces a unique series of challenges that the residents of the state will have to address to create a sober and drug-free environment. What are the unique factors of that...