Estimated Number of People Who Inject Drugs in the United States

For alcohol, the lifetime use question concerned age at which respondents first (if ever) had a drink with alcohol, specified as beer, wine, wine coolers, and hard liquor (eg, vodka, gin, whiskey, and mixed drinks). First regular use of alcohol was defined as the age at which the respondent first had at least 12 drinks within a single year. Participants were also asked about the first time they had an opportunity to drink alcohol or use drugs, regardless of whether they used them. Opportunity to use was defined as when someone either offered them alcohol or drugs or when the individual was present when others were using and could have used if he or she wanted to. The age at first opportunity to use substances was recorded separately for alcohol and drugs. In light of the high availability of legal substances, such as alcohol, only opportunity to use illicit drugs is examined in this investigation.

Second, the language in the remaining CIDI sections was modified to enhance comprehension with adolescents using an iterative process. Third, CIDI modules were modified in content to make them more germane to the contexts and experiences of adolescents. The most common change of this type required altering references from adult contexts (eg, work life and parenting) to adolescent contexts (eg, school life and peer relationships). Fourth, the finalized revision of each diagnostic module was reviewed for meaning, logic, and comparability to the adult version. Each diagnostic section was then systematically piloted to test the flow and timing among adolescents, with subsequent modifications to reduce the length of the diagnostic sections.

Here are 10 statistics about teen drug abuse – updated October 2023.

The data provide estimates of substance use and mental illness at the national, state, and substate levels. NSDUH data also help to identify the extent of substance use and mental illness among different subgroups, estimate trends over time, and determine the need for treatment services. SAMHSA’s mission is to lead public health and service delivery efforts that promote mental health, prevent substance misuse, and provide treatments and supports to foster recovery while ensuring equitable access and better outcomes. By age, the rate of PWID living with a diagnosis of HIV was higher among older age groups than those 13–24 years for males and for females (Table S2).

Conditional prevalence estimates for each alcohol or drug use stage were also calculated among those who had reached the earlier stage of use. Estimated projections of the cumulative probability of stages of alcohol or drug use as of the age of 18 years were obtained by the actuarial method implemented in PROC LIFETEST in SAS statistical software (version 9.2; SAS Institute, Inc). The associations of age, sex, and race/ethnicity with the stages of alcohol or drug use were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis. Because the NCS-A data are both clustered and weighted, the Taylor series linearization method implemented in SUDAAN (version 10; Research Triangle Institute) was used to estimate standard errors of logistic regression coefficients. Significance of predictor sets was evaluated using Wald F tests based on design-adjusted coefficient variance-covariance matrices. Statistical significance was consistently evaluated using 2-sided tests with a .05 significance level.

National Surveys of Drug Abuse

Teenagers in Indiana are 2.11% more likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen. Teenagers in Illinois are 4.29% more likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen. Teenagers in Idaho are 7.98% less likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen. Teenagers in Hawaii are 11.64% less likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen. Teenagers in Georgia are 19.01% less likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen. Teenagers in Florida are 5.50% less likely to have used drugs in the last month than the average American teen.

• Psychiatric diagnoses were defined as a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)-specified psychiatric disorder documented by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code during the hospital period.
• Denominators were calculated by multiplying census data by the lifetime PWID population proportion derived from the meta-analysis.
• Notwithstanding data input limitations, this updated estimate provides a data point for monitoring the US PWID population size over time and can inform strategies to reduce transmission of infectious diseases.

Trends from population-based surveys will be monitored as part of CDC’s behavioral surveillance analyses and the meta-analysis can be updated as new data emerge. For HIV infection, rates can be calculated on an annual basis with the most recent surveillance data. Other disease metrics can be used to calculate rates, such as HIV incidence [1] or national HIV prevalence iv drug use estimates [2], which include persons with undiagnosed HIV infection. Because we calculated past year as well as lifetime estimates, others can use either, depending on which best fits their needs. However, our estimates may not be well suited for calculating disease rates at the state or local level as the population sizes of PWID vary across the U.S. [10].

Narcotic Abuse

In closing, we hope to inspire ID physicians, staff, and researchers to take an active role in responding to the drug use epidemic. It is impossible to provide evidence based prevention and/or treatment for infections in substance using populations without adequate treatment of the underlying addiction. Moreover, it is not sufficient to evaluate hospital care for PWID using the same benchmarks as the general population (eg, length of stay, readmissions). Additional outcomes require investigation including PDD, MOUD uptake, illicit drug use, and overdose while hospitalized. To effectively deliver ID care in the hospital setting and support linkage to community-based care, we must identify patient-centered ways to intervene on the unique health outcomes that contribute to the devastating morbidity and mortality of injection-related infections.

Drugs that are considered “gateway drugs” (that is, substances that are often precursors to abuse of other, possibly more dangerous drugs) or deemed a public health risk may also be listed under Schedule I. Identification of IDUs is crucial – both to determine clinical risk and to minimise the risk of unexpected withdrawal. An accurate drug history, including route of administration, should be completed for all patients on admission, acknowledging that this may need to be repeated until an accurate picture is gained.