Last updated : December 16, 2024
Although the drugs most commonly abused in the United States changes every few years, the amount of drug abuse remains a constant worry for many areas of society such as law enforcement, employers, school administrators, and parents. According to recent statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse from the National Institutes of Health, a host of different drugs are currently abused by Americans, with drugs such as marijuana and synthetic pot rising to the very top of the list.
Drug Migration Toward Weed Use
One of the significant changes in drug use levels in the United States has been the gradual migration from drugs like crack, heroin and meth to heavy abuse levels of prescription drugs and weed. Pot and synthetic weed account for an astounding 47 percent of the drugs commonly abused in the United States by 12th graders, with prescription drugs like Adderall and Vicodin also gaining in popularity.
One of the concerns for school administrators and law enforcement has been the gradual acceptance of weed as a “harmless” drug, and a method for getting high that doesn’t represent any real danger. Heavy levels of propaganda from pot-friendly groups and lawmakers have led to significant increases in the popularity of weed each year in the past decade.
Many states around the country last year saw referendums and activity on voting ballots regarding the legalization of pot and all the publicity surrounding this drug has influenced the rise in use by many different demographics. No longer associated with stoners who eat pizza and live on the beach in California, weed now shows up as an abused drug just about everywhere in the United States.
Hard Drugs Still a Problem
Although drugs like heroin and cocaine (or crack) have been receding in their prevalence for use by Americans in the past few decades, there is still a problem regarding these drugs and habitual users. The NIH’s Monitoring the Future study, suggested that high school students of all ages had engaged in using a wide variety of hard drugs, in addition to party drugs like ecstasy and various types of amphetamines.
The amount of illicit drug users in the United States in 1979 was around 50 percent, but that number had dropped to a little over 6.5 percent of the population by the time the survey was conducted a few decades later in 1999. Although the drop in illicit drug use could be seen as a positive development, 6.5 percent of the population would still equal almost 15 million people in the United States were using drugs like cocaine and heroin.
Another way to consider such statistics, is that although drug use for drugs like cocaine saw a hefty percentage drop in the last generation, the Office of National Drug Control Policy suggests that crack is now available in every major metropolitan area in the United States. A generation ago crack was a drug seen only on the coasts, and it wasn’t nearly as available in Middle-America.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offered some sobering statistics during its most recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, with significant problems existing for individuals exhibiting mental health issues and undergoing an addiction to drugs. Among youths aged 12 to 17, the survey found that depressed individuals used illicit drugs at a rate of 36 percent compared with less than 18 percent of individuals who were not under the influence of depression.
This means that many young people in the United States have the potential to become addicted to drugs, and this may cause significant problems in society in the next few decades as these children grow up and enter the work force. A person addicted to drugs in the workplace is a danger to everyone in the company and may also undermine the focus of the business. Unfortunately, this means that companies must take a hard line in testing for drugs and expelling workers who refuse to work drug-free.
True and accurate statistics regarding drug use do have the potential to underestimate how many actual drug users there are, however, since many people in a cycle of abuse aren’t in touch with society and wouldn’t be the first individuals counted in a survey. This means that significant abuse of prescription drugs and marijuana might be even worse than currently estimated in the United States.
