A High Old Time in Rhode Island

Feds release annual drug numbers.

[Map: Illicit drug use other than marijuana in the past month among people aged 12 or older based on 2007-2008 figures.]→

It’s time again for the government’s annual state-by-state survey of drug use in America.  Assembled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the yearly numbers are argued over by states and agencies competing for federal health and medicine dollars. In this year’s sweepstakes, dark horse Rhode Island upset the reigning champion, the District of Columbia, as the state with the highest number of monthly users of illicit drugs other than marijuana. 

Usage figures were based on numbers compiled in 2007 and 2008. Overall, eight per cent of Americans aged 12 or older used an illicit drug other than pot in the prior month, essentially unchanged from last year’s report based on 2006-2007 figures. Using the percentage of monthly users as a yardstick, other states in the highest group included Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Colorado, and Tennessee. Among the states in the lowest group were Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Mississippi, New Jersey, the Dakotas, Wyoming—and the lowest of them all--Iowa.

According to SAMSHA, five states showed significant changes compared to a year ago. Iowa, Louisiana and Wyoming showed marked decreases, while usage of drugs other than marijuana in Hawaii and Oregon increased.

As for alcohol, SAMSHA pegs the national rate of alcohol use among people age 12 or older at 51.4 per cent. The highest rate of alcohol use was found in the 18-25 age group (big surprise there). This year the state drinking trophy goes to New Hampshire, with Utah coming in dead last, as usual. High-drinking states include Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. (What is it with New England?)

Interestingly, eight out of the ten lowest states for drinking are found in the South: Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia, among others. However, the South makes up for it in tobacco usage. States with the highest prevalence of tobacco use were Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia—and, okay, Wyoming. The state with the fewest smokers? Do you have to ask? Utah. The national smoking average still hovers around 24 per cent.

For a longer view, SAMSHA compared the current study figures with numbers compiled in 2002-2003. Iowa, Missouri, and Pennsylvania showed significant drops for drugs other than marijuana. Only Rhode Island and Tennessee showed marked increases.

Tennessee also showed increases in marijuana usage, while less pot was smoked in Florida, Iowa, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. Overall, usage decreased slightly compared to the 2002-2003 period.

The most meaningful change compared to the 2002-2003 period was a 2.5 per cent decrease in the use of cocaine among people 12 or older. Nationwide, the percentage of alcohol use remained almost identical (51.4 per cent).

Photo Credit: SAMSHA

Rate Your Drugs

Web site gives patients a chance to sound off.

A reader kindly pointed me to www.rateadrug.com, which claims as its mission the creation of “healthcare’s most comprehensive user-sourced database of short and long- term prescription drug side-effects, efficacy and overall benefits information.”

RateADrug, with a small but growing database, says that the site “picks up where clinical trials and FDA disclosures leave off. By taking a free five-minute survey, the users of over 5,000 prescription drugs can complete an unprecedented evaluation of their own experiences and reactions and then compare them with other users worldwide.”

“If Vioxx has taught us anything,” according to the site’s home page, "it’s that sometimes it takes a while for adverse effects to be identified.”

RateADrug claims to provide “an online, community-based rating system that allows users to share information about possible side effects and benefits they experience from prescription drugs, medical procedures and nutritional supplements. The site uses anecdotal reports from highly diversified user groups to add to data from clinical trials and FDA disclosures. Users can evaluate and share their experiences about a broad range of medical treatments, alternative therapies and prescription drugs by participating in RateADrug's ongoing surveys.”

The surveys are anonymous, the site declares, and become part of statistically aggregated scores for each prescription medication.

RateADrug does not accept advertising or infomercials from pharmaceutical companies. Doctors and other health care providers are invited to participate and submit comments.

According to Mark Deuitch, RateADrug.com founder and CEO:

"The one constant in health care is the need for greater creativity, discovery, and transparency in dealing with the effectiveness and potential negative side effects of prescription drugs and other medical treatments."

Nothing Beats Booze

Annual survey ranks alcohol as #1 problem.

Drugs may make headlines, but alcohol is the elephant sitting in the corner of the room, according to Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), a non-profit organization that conducts an annual survey of community anti-drug service groups. CADCA, sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that 68 percent of community anti-drug coalitions ranked alcohol as “the number one problem facing their community.”

The group said that marijuana was in second place, listed by 60 percent of communities as one of the major problems in their areas. Tobacco was a close third.

“It’s no surprise that our members are seeing big problems with youth alcohol use in their communities,” said Arthur T. Dean, CADCA chairman and CEO. 700 community anti-drug coalitions took part in the 2007 survey. Community anti-drug coalitions rely on strategies including media outreach, advertisements, educational events and community forums.

Asked to name the major partners helping them tackle community drug problems, 88 percent of survey respondents listed “law enforcement.” That was slightly ahead of the number of respondents listing “parents” (86 percent).

While the results cannot be considered a surprise, it is disheartening to discover that an earlier CADCA survey found that the “alcohol stigma” is alive and well: 63 percent of Americans still believe alcoholism is a moral weakness. Only 34 percent of respondents labelled it a disease. The earlier survey also reported that two out of every five Americans reported that they have encouraged a loved one to seek help for an alcohol problem.

Moreover, a group of Britain’s most prominent drug researchers published a report in the Lancet last year calling for the U.K. to scrap its current drug classification scheme in favor of one that “more honestly reflects the harm caused by alcohol and tobacco,” according to an article in the U.K Guardian by science correspondent James Randerson.

The study team “asked 29 consultant psychiatrists who specialise in addiction to rate [20 drugs of abuse] in nine categories. Three of these related to physical harm, three to the likelihood of addiction and three to social harms such as healthcare costs,” writes Randerson. In the final rankings, heroin and cocaine were ranked as the most dangerous. Alcohol placed 5th, well ahead of marijuana (11th), LSD (14th), and Ecstasy (18th).

Predictably, howls of outrage and shock were heard from dozens of U.K. politicians and anti-drug crusaders after the report was published.

Photo Credit: LiveJournal

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