Addiction Statistics In 2022: The State Of Substance Abuse

As a drug rehab in Santa Ana, The Edge Treatment Center sees the effects of substance abuse and drug & alcohol addiction every day. Addiction doesn’t discriminate; it affects everyone: Rich and poor, young and old.

Unfortunately, 2021 was a banner year for addiction. For the first time in US history, drug overdose deaths topped 100,000, according to a landmark CDC report. Meanwhile, the anxiety, anger, and depression caused by deaths, uncertainty, and lockdowns have continued to be powerful drivers for substance abuse, addiction, and overdoses due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

Also, the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl continued its presence in illicit drug markets. Vastly more powerful than morphine, this painkiller often contaminates drug stashes, making addiction more dangerous than ever. More than two-third of the drug deaths in a 12-month period ending in April 2021 were due to fentanyl.

Our addiction statistics page is your guide to the current state of drug and alcohol addiction in the US. All data is from the most recent year available.

DRUG OVERDOSE STATISTICS

Put simply, a drug overdose is what happens when a person takes too much of an addictive substance or a combination of substances. Overdose is a major risk of substance abuse. It’s possible to overdose on over-the-counter medications, legal substances such as alcohol and cannabis, and illicit drugs like methamphetamines or heroin.

Opioid overdoses are sadly among the most common kinds of drug overdoses.

How Do People Overdose On Opioids?

Opioids work by binding to areas on nerves called opioid receptors. When opioids bind to them, these receptors affect how the body sends signals to the brain, which is why we experience pain differently when we take opioids for pain. These receptors are found throughout the body, located in the brain, the nervous system, and the digestive system.

When these receptors are activated by opioid drugs, the receptors slow down other body processes, like breathing. High doses of opioids – or small doses of powerful opioid drugs like fentanyl – can slow breathing to the point where a person suffocates.

Drug Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 Annually in 2021

In November 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics reported fatal drug overdoses reached a new high for a 12-month period ending in April 2021. During that time, 100,306 people fatally overdosed from drugs, including heroin, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, methamphetamines, and more.

Where The Overdose Deaths Happened: States Which Saw The Highest Increases In Drug Overdose Deaths From May 2020 To May 2021

Source: CDC National Center For Health Statistics

Fentanyl Abuse: The Chief Driver Of Overdose Deaths In The US

Back to the CDC’s overdose numbers. Of the over 100,000 drug deaths noted by the agency, they estimate 75,673 deaths were due to opioids ... which includes fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller often available in illicit drug markets.

Fentanyl does have legitimate medical use. It’s used to treat serious chronic pain, and when used as prescribed it allows people to live relatively comfortable lives. Most fentanyl abused today is made in clandestine labs and then distributed like other illicit drugs. Worse, it often contaminates other drugs. Fentanyl has been found in cocaine, counterfeit Xanax pills, heroin, and more.

What makes fentanyl dangerous is its potency. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.

Put this another way:

30 milligrams = the amount of a lethal dose of heroin

3 milligrams = a lethal dose of fentanyl

Sources: DEA; STAT

Global Fentanyl Consumption

Between 2018 and 2019 (the most recent years available), the US actually saw its fentanyl use dip noticeably. Germany led the globe in fentanyl consumption during 2019.

Source: Statista.com

SUBSTANCE USE STATISTICS

Whose Fault Is The Opioid Crisis?

A 2019 poll published by Statista.com asked patients in the US who they thought was responsible for the current opioid crisis. They overwhelmingly blamed pharmaceutical companies:

Source: Statista.com

How Common Were Substance Use Disorders In 2020?

According to the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 40.3 million (14.5%) of Americans had a substance use disorder during 2020.

The chart below breaks down the types of substance use disorders. Alcohol is by far the most popular addictive drug; just over 28 million Americans had an alcohol use disorder in 2020:

Source: 2020 NSDUH survey

ADDICTION TREATMENT STATISTICS

Who Needed Treatment The Most?

According to SAMHSA’s 2020 NSDUH, people aged between 18 and 25 needed drug and alcohol addiction treatment the most in 2020, the most recent year tracked by SAMHSA:

Source: 2020 NSDUH Survey

Where People Found Addiction Treatment

1.8 million Americans sought drug and alcohol addiction treatment at outpatient treatment centers like The Edge in 2020, according to SAMHSA’s NSDUH survey:

Source: 2020 NSDUH Survey

COVID-19 AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The COVID-19 Effect: How The Pandemic Affected Substance Abuse

Unsurprisingly, the stress, isolation, and fear during the 2020 COVID outbreak changed how people drank. A RAND Corporation study from September 2020 found the consumption of alcohol by adults aged 30 and up rose by 14% … with 41% of women reporting they drank heavily.

Source: Rand Corporation

What Heavy Drinking Looked Like During The COVID-19 Outbreak

USA Today published a study conducted by The Harris Poll and Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Alkermes in mid-2021. Researchers polled just over 6,000 Americans aged 21 and over. Of that community, 1,003 identified themselves as heavy drinkers*.

*The survey defined “heavy drinking” as having had two days of heavy drinking during a single week at least twice during the previous month. Heavy drinking itself is defined as having four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men in one day.

Sources: USA Today; Alkermes

ECONOMIC ADDICTION STATISTICS

Drug addiction doesn’t just affect individuals and the people around them – it’s a condition which has considerable economic and social costs, too.

The Cost Of Opioid Addiction

According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, each year opioid abuse, opioid addiction, and opioid overdose cost:

• $35 billion in health care costs

• $14.8 billion in criminal justice costs

• $92 billion in lost productivity.

Pew also states improved access to treatment for opioid addiction may save between $25,000 and $105,000 in lifetime costs for each person.

Source: Pew Charitable Trusts

Costs Per Substance: What Substance Abuse Cost The US In 2020

Although a legal substance, tobacco’s addictive … and expensive. In 2020 (the last year with available data), tobacco abuse had the highest cost out of all addictive substances:

Source: Statista.com

Substance Abuse Funding 2012 – 2022

After a short dip near the start of the decade, funding for substance abuse by the National Institutes for Health (NIH) have climbed back up. Current estimates for 2022 substance abuse funding are $2.7 billion:

Source: Statista.com

Funding Support For Substance Use Disorders:

A poll from 2019 shows many Americans support increased funding for opioid addiction research:

Source: Statista

SUBSTANCE ABUSE DEMOGRAPHICS

Alcohol Use

2020 saw a new development in the way people drank – women began to pull ahead of men in alcohol consumption:

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking is consuming 4 or more drinks in a two-hour period for women and consuming 5 or more drinks in an hour for men.

As for heavy drinking, NIAAA defines it as more than 4 drinks per day or more than 14 drinks in a week for men and more than 3 drinks per day or having more than 7 drinks per week.

Source: Statista.com

Illicit Drug Use In 2020, By Ethnicity

SAMHSA’s 2020 NSDUH survey measured any illicit drug use during 2020 by ethnic group:

Drug Overdoses, By Ethnicity

Drug overdose deaths increased in every ethnic group in 2020 … but the largest increases in fatal drug overdoses were seen in communities of color. American Indian / Alaskan Native communities had the highest rate of fatal drug overdoses, according to this chart from the Kaiser Family Foundation:

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation report

LGBTQIA+ Substance Abuse

According to the 2019 NSDUH – the most recent data set available – marijuana was the most common illicit drug used by the LGBTQIA+ community:

Source: SAMHSA

The Edge Treatment Center is host to a thriving LGBTQIA+ community.

Overcoming Barriers

The stigma of addiction and co-occurring mental disorders is often cited as being the largest barrier to drug treatment. Put simply, stigma blames people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction for their own problems, viewing the condition as a sign of bad character or poor morals.

Stigma often prevents people from receiving drug and alcohol treatment, either due to the actions of healthcare providers or internalized guilt. Overcoming stigma is a challenge faced by patients, their families, and caregivers.

However, a 2021 poll about drug & alcohol addiction treatment conducted by the Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult found while stigma was still a considerable barrier to treatment, the costs and insurance of drug and alcohol addiction acted as far larger barriers to getting addiction treatment in the US:

Source: Bipartisan Policy Center

A Reason To Hope

The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) 2021l Monitoring The Future study found fewer adolescents reported substance abuse in 2021, defying other substance abuse trends during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Source: NIDA

Don’t Be A Statistic

The dangers of drug and alcohol addiction are many: overdoses, falls, and for abusers of illicit drugs, there’s a serious risk of assault and even murder when purchasing drugs.

It doesn’t have to be that way, however. The Edge Treatment Center offers something unique: a community-focused experience aimed at teaching people how to find joy and meaning in life without drug and alcohol abuse.

A happier life can start today – contact an Edge expert now!