Drug addiction continues to plague the United States at epidemic levels. From prescription drug abuse to street drug sales, substance abuse and chemical dependency remain national concerns. Spanning a host of demographic lines, drug addiction affects men, women, teenagers and children of all races, socioeconomic backgrounds and occupations. For many individuals struggling against drug addiction, release from chemical dependency does not come without professional rehabilitation.

Drug Addiction Statistics and Facts

Whether you are currently struggling with symptoms of drug addiction, or simply seeking to educate yourself on behalf of a loved one, familiarizing yourself with current drug addiction facts and statistics can help you take the first steps toward treatment. We’ve gathered a few facts below about the national drug problem, covering teenage use, emergency room visits, fatalities and mental health concerns.

• In the United States alone, more than 4.5 million emergency room visits were considered drug related during 2009, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) data. Cocaine-related medical problems accounted for more than 400,000 of those visits, while marijuana was involved in more than 375,000 emergency room trips. Heroin accounted for more than 200,000 trips to the emergency room across the nation.
• Almost one in 20 high school seniors in the nation have tried methamphetamines at least once, with three percent of high school students of all grades having tried the drug within the last year.

• According to a survey executed by the New York Times, almost 2.5 percent of those living in the United States have used cocaine in their lifetimes, with an excess of 1.5 million people taking cocaine on a regular basis.
• Throughout the country in 2008 alone, nearly 23,000 residents of the United States had used Vicodin for nonmedical purposes, according to reports by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
• One in two individuals who suffer from drug addiction and drug abuse also experience some diagnosable form of mental health struggle, including depression, anxiety and mania. In fact, conversely, almost one-third of patients who have been clinically diagnosed with a mental health disorder suffer from drug or alcohol addiction.
• Across the country, more than 200,000 individuals have some form of dependency on heroin – and research estimates suggest that as many as 23 percent of those who try the drug even once become addicted.
• According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2006 saw more than 730,000 individuals had used methamphetamines in the last month, though the number declined to 314,000 by 2008.
• According a study conducted in 2009 by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more than 10.5 million individuals throughout the country had driven a vehicle while under the influence of illegal drugs in the last year.
• In 2010 alone, NIDA’s Monitoring the Future Study found that 1.5 percent of high school seniors had used Rohypnol ® (also known as “roofies” or “the date rape drug” for its ability to render victims amnesiac and unconscious). Additionally, 1.4 percent of high school seniors had used GHB in the last year, while 1.6 percent had used the dissociative drug ketamine in that time period.