Alcohol and Drug Abuse Statistics

Financial Impact of Substance Abuse on Health in America:
In 2002, the total economic cost of the consequences of drug abuse was reported to be in excess of $180 billion, second only to heart disease. (Source: SAMHSA)

Specific Drug Stats:

Alcohol: In 2005, at least 18.7 million Americans were classified with dependence on or abuse of alcohol. (Source: 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings)

Cocaine: In 2005, there were an estimated 2.4 million cocaine users, up 400,000 from 2004. (Source: 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings)

Marijuana: Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug; in 2005, there were 4.1 million Americans classified with dependency on or abuse of marijuana.

Methamphetamine (Meth): The cost of a meth lab cleanup can range from $5,000 to $100,00 due to environmental contamination. Each pound of meth produced leaves behind 5-6 pounds of toxic waste. (Source: Partnership for a Drug-Free America website)

Tobacco: In 2005, 44.3% of tobacco product users were young adults aged 18-25; use of illicit drugs and alcohol was more common among cigarette smokers than non-smokers.

Alcohol, Drugs, and Crime

A study conducted in the late 1990s of the nation’s prison population found that 83% reported past drug use; 57% were using drugs in the month prior to their offense, and 37% were drinking at the time of their offense. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 1999)

Nationally, in 2002, drug abuse-related police, legal, and adjudication expenses cost states approximately $9.8 billion and local governments approximately $2.3 billion. (Source: The Economic Cost of Drug Abuse in the United States: 1992-2002)

About 1.4 million U.S. drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in 2004. (Source: Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports. U.S. Department of Justice, FBI)

Underage Drinking

(Source: U.S. Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking)
Young people who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol problems later in life than those who begin drinking at age 21 or older. New research indicates that alcohol may harm the developing adolescent brain.

There are approximately 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million (18.8 percent) are considered binge drinkers and more than 2 million (6 percent) are classified as heavy drinkers. By age 18, more than 70 percent of teens have had a drink.

As they get older, the chance that young people will use alcohol grows. Over 11 percent of 12-year-old children (6th graders) say that they have used alcohol at least once. By age 13, that number doubles. By age 14 (8th grade), 41 percent of children have had at least one drink, and nearly 20 percent say they have been drunk at least once.

(Source: 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Survey: NC 9th-12th graders)
21% reported having their first drink of alcohol, other than a few sips, by age 13
42% reported had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more of the past 30 days
23% reported having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row, meaning within a couple of hours, on one or more of the past 30 days.

(Source: Search Institute Developmental Asset Study: 7th-12th Graders)
Underage Drinking - Dare County
37% reported that they had used alcohol once or more in the last 30 days (8% for 7th graders, 23% for 8th graders) (10% for 7th graders HI, 41% for 8th graders HI)
25% reported that they got drunk once or more in the last two weeks (6% for 7th graders, 14% for 8th graders) (7% for 7th graders HI, 24% for 8th graders HI)

(Source: “Binge Drinking and Associated Health Risk Behaviors Among High School Students,” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
45% of all U.S. high school students admit to recently drinking alcohol, and 64% of these students are binge drinkers.

(Source: National Academy of Science)
Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among America’s youth exceeding both tobacco and marijuana.
Each day, more than 7,000 children under the age of 16 take their first drink and one in five eighth-graders is a current drinker. Alcohol kills four times more children than all illegal drugs combined.

(Source: International Institute for Alcohol Awareness)
Underage drinking costs America $62 billion a year in medical care, lost productivity, and other pain and suffering for young drinkers. Underage drinking costs the citizens of North Carolina over $1.3 billion annually.

(Source: 2002 National Youth Survey on Drugs)
40% of kids who begin drinking before age 13 will develop alcohol abuse or dependency; delay of onset of drinking by five years decrease the risk by 50%
18% of all alcohol sales are to underage drinkers, representing nearly $23 billion in profits annually to the alcohol industry

Workforce

Drug use disorders alone are estimated to cost American businesses approximately $128.6 billion in lost productivity each year. (Source: SAMHSA)

Alcohol dependency alone is estimated to cause 500 million lost workdays annually. (Source: SAMHSA)

Alcohol and drug abuse costs American businesses roughly $81 billion in lost productivity each year; 86% of this cost is attributed to drinking. (Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services)

In 2005, nearly 77 percent of adults classified with substance use dependency or abuse were employed. Reported job problems, including incomplete work, absenteeism, tardiness, work-related injuries, mistakes, and disagreement with supervisors are cut by an average of 75 percent among employees who have received treatment for substance use disorders. (Source: SAMHSA)

In 2005, among the 52.6 million adult binge and heavy alcohol users, 42.1 million (or 805) were employed either full or part time. (Source: 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings)

Of the 17.2 million illicit drug users aged 18 or older, 12.9 million (74.8%) were employed either full or part time. (Source: 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings)

The Dare CASA Workplace Substance Abuse Survey results indicate that employers strongly believe that substance use and abuse is a pervasive problem in the workplace and having a negative effect on the business climate. For example, over half (55%) of the surveyed employers reported that substance abuse in their workplace is having a negative effect on their business. The majority of the respondents stated that the use of illegal drugs, abuse of prescription drugs, abuse of alcohol, and tobacco use is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem among employees in most Dare County businesses. The effects most often cited were increases in absenteeism and a decrease in productivity. These employers’ concerns are in line with those that resulted from a similar survey, the Dare County Community Health Assessment (2006) with the broader community. In that survey, 71% of community respondents rated drug abuse and 64% rated alcohol abuse as a very serious community problem. Indeed, the governing board of Healthy Carolinians of the Outer Banks, the organization responsible for conducting the survey, prioritized the top health and social issues identified in the survey and determined that drug and alcohol abuse was the highest priority.

As in any community, substance abuse problems are also having a spillover effect on crime. Drug use and sales arrests have exceeded the state rate for the last decade, as have alcohol related arrests. Alcohol-related traffic accidents are double the state rate. According to the Dare 9-County Substance Abuse Needs Assessment and Community Plan (2006), conducted by UNC Chapel Hill, Dare County 2005 arrest statistics illustrate that the alcohol and other drug issues facing Dare County residents are significantly higher that the national estimates would indicate. During 2005, there were 1040 total arrests of young people age 16-20 for alcohol and drug offenses. These dangerous patterns have continued and local law enforcement agencies in Dare County reported over 1600 alcohol and drug related arrests in 2006. Non-residents account for nearly 70% of all alcohol-related arrests, a dramatic representation of the impact of the tourist driven economy. However, when looking at drug arrests alone, residents account for 58.8% of arrests. Youth age 20 and below accounted for nearly 47% of total alcohol and drug-related
arrests and over 70% of alcohol arrests alone.

School discipline reports reinforce the picture of substance abuse problems in youth shown
by the larger community crime data. According to the 2003-04 School Violence Report, Dare
County Schools had a higher rate (4.8 per 1000 students) of substance abuse violations than 70%
of the schools in the state. Data for 2005-2006 indicated that infractions related to substance
abuse have not improved, with the local rate reported to again be 4.8 per 1000 students. These
rates reflect more frequent canine searches and additional improvements in vigilance, as well as
the continuing need for strengthened prevention efforts. Additionally, Dare County Schools
implemented a random drug testing policy in 2005-06 for students in grades 7-12. For the first
semester, 183 drug tests yielded 10 positives for a 5.5% rate, about twice the rate of 2-3%
reported by most school systems with random drug policies.

Finally, student self-reports of substance use in the Profile of Student Life surveys (Search Institute, 2000, 2005) indicate that while progress is being made in efforts to curb tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use among local youth, rates of substance use remain alarmingly high. For alcohol, current ninth grade use declined from 50% in 2000 to 40% in 2005. Local seniors reported a decline in current alcohol use from 62% in 2000 to 59% in 2005. While these declines are encouraging, it is notable that they reflect rates that are still much higher than the 47% rate nationally. Eighth grade current alcohol use also continued to decline, from 27% in 2000 to 23% in 2005. Again, while this decline is encouraging, rates remain higher than the 17% national rate for this age. Moreover, Dare County high school student reports of alcohol use in the last 30 days remain above state and national averages and have declined more slowly (51% in 2005, down from 58.7% in 1997 and 1999, and 55% in 2000). Rates of current smoking showed substantial increases during the 1990’s among Dare County high school students, but have declined recently following national trends. Specifically, less than 24% of Dare County high school students reported smoking in the last 30 days in 2005, compared with 48.4% in 1997. Finally, the percent of Dare County students reporting ever having tried marijuana is also beginning to decrease for some groups of youth after years of increases during the 1990s. In 2005, 19% of eighth graders (compared with 20% in 2000) reported ever having tried marijuana. Ninth and tenth grade trials of marijuana have declined from 37% and 46% respectively in 2000 to 30% and 42% in 2005. Eleventh grade trials declined in 2005 to 51% from 59% in 1999 and 53% in 2000. However, the percent of twelfth grade students reporting ever having tried marijuana went up from 60% in 2000 to 63% in 2005, placing it significantly higher than the rate of 45% reported nationally.