A pretty shocking report about substance use in the US emerges. Check out the following reports about this below.
Substance use in the US
According to a recent survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), millions of Americans are struggling with substance use disorders and mental health issues related to alcohol and drug use.
“In 2022, 48.7 million people aged 12 or older (or 17.3 percent) had a substance use disorder (SUD) in the past year,” said the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report published on Nov. 13.
According to a recent report, a total of 29.5 million people in America suffer from alcohol use disorder, 27.2 million suffer from drug use disorder, and 8 million people suffer from both.
These individuals use substances like drugs or alcohol uncontrollably despite the harmful consequences they face.
The report also highlights that American Indians or Alaska Natives have the highest rate of substance use disorder, while Asians have the lowest rate.
The survey tracks substance use disorders in various categories, including tobacco, nicotine vaping, alcohol, illicit drug use, and fentanyl misuse.
Furthermore, the report also found a high prevalence of mental health issues among Americans. Approximately 15.4 million adults, aged 18 and above, were classified as having serious mental illness (SMI) in the past year.
In the age group of 12 to 17 years, 4.8 million adolescents (19.5%) suffered from a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year.
Out of these, 3.4 million had serious thoughts of suicide, 1.7 million made suicide plans, and around 953,000 attempted suicide.
Moreover, almost half of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 were found to have either any mental illness (AMI) or substance use disorder.
“This year’s report shows that millions of Americans, of all ages, continue to face mental health & substance use challenges–sometimes both at once,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a Nov. 14 X post.
In a Nov. 13 press release, HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon stated that “the data released today is crucial for informing our policies, protocols, and understanding of our nation’s health.”
