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NCSL Substance Abuse Snapshot

Allison Colker, Editor

February 15, 2007

Emerging Issues

South Dakota to Expand Smoking Cessation Programs

Flush with cash from a November ballot initiative, South Dakota will develop and expand programs to encourage smokers to quit. The initiative, Initiated Measure 2, raised cigarette taxes by $1 per pack, and is expected to generate an additional $41 million in revenue. Of this, $5 million will fund anti-tobacco initiatives such as QuitLine, a state-run counseling service. The state will also pay for anti-smoking aides such as nicotine patches, and will fund further marketing and community campaigns against smoking. “This will give us a solid program, sustainable over the years,” Senator Donald Van Etten told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. However, Sen. Van Etten also noted that the $5 million, combined with current anti-smoking expenditures of $700,000, still falls short of the $8.9 million that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends to properly fund anti-tobacco programs.

Colorado to Increase Spending on Treatment for Prisoners

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter submitted an amended budget plan this week that calls for more treatment for offenders with substance abuse and mental health problems. The plan would increase spending by $8 million, mostly on alcohol and drug treatment centers and beds for mental health patients and residential centers. At the same time, the plan would reduce spending on prison beds by $3.2 million. The overall goal is to reduce future spending on prison construction and operating costs; the state has a recidivism rate of 50 percent within three years. In FY 2006, Colorado will spend $585 million on prisons. Twenty years ago, that figure was $63 million. The governor estimates his plan will save the state $14 million over the long term.

Some of the highlights of Gov. Ritter’s proposal, according to the Denver Post:

• $3.1 million to create supervision and treatment options for offenders with mental-health and substance-abuse problems
• $1.9 million in restored funding to youth corrections treatment programs
• $1.1 million to add 75 beds to Community Corrections residential-diversion programs
• $892,115 for a program that provides two-week residential stays and after-care treatment for drug and alcohol abusers who have been unsuccessful in other treatment programs
• $858,438 for transitional mental-health beds
• $506,347 to evaluate the performance of programs designed to reduce offenses by discharged prisoners and
• $248,863 to send offenders with severe mental illness and substance-abuse problems into Community Corrections centers instead of prison.

New Federal Study Shows Methamphetamine Use Has Dropped

Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that past-year use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant, declined between 2002 and 2005 among persons age 12 and older. Those living in the western part of the U.S. were more likely to have used methamphetamine in the past year, compared to those living in any other part of the country, according to the report.

The study also shows that the number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time in the 12 months before the survey remained stable between 2002 and 2004, but decreased between 2004 and 2005.

Data from SAMHSA’s Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) showed that in 2004, 8 percent of treatment admissions had stimulants as the primary substance of abuse. Methamphetamine/amphetamine accounted for 99 percent of those seeking treatment for abuse of stimulants.

Forty-five percent of treatment admissions in 2004 for methamphetamine/amphetamine use were for women; 26 percent of treatment admissions of women were for alcohol abuse or marijuana use.

According to the study, in 2005, approximately 1.3 million persons age 12 and older (0.5 percent) had used methamphetamine in the past year; 741,000 were male and 556,000 were female.

Combined data from 2002 to 2005 show that methamphetamine use in the past year was higher among persons in the West (1.2 percent) than among those who lived in the Northeast (0.1 percent), South (0.5 percent) or Midwest (0.5) regions. The findings were consistent for both females and males.

These results are based on survey questions about use of methamphetamine ("crank," "crystal," "ice" or "speed"), Desoxyn, or Methedrine that was not prescribed for the respondent or that he or she took only for the experience or feeling it caused.

The complete version of the NSDUH Report, Methamphetamine Use; is available online at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/.

New Study Finds American Indians and Alaska Natives Continue to Use Alcohol and Illicit Drugs at  Higher Rates

American Indians and Alaska Natives age 12 and older were less likely to have used alcohol in the past year than were members of other racial groups, but they were more likely than members of other racial groups to have a past-year alcohol use disorder and to have a past-year illicit drug use disorder, according to new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

While 60.8 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives and 65.8 percent of other racial groups used alcohol in the past year, American Indians and Alaskan Natives were more likely to report having a substance use disorder.  According to the report, 10.6 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives reported having a past-year alcohol use disorder compared with 7.6 percent  of other racial groups, and  5.0 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives had a past-year illicit drug use disorder compared with 2.9 percent of other racial groups.  American Indians and Alaska Natives also had higher rates of past-year marijuana use than members of other racial groups (13.5 percent vs. 10.6 percent), higher rates of cocaine use (3.5 percent vs. 2.4 percent), and higher rates of disorders involving hallucinogens (2.7 percent vs. 1.7 percent).  Rates of past-year heroin use and past-year non-medical use of pain relievers, tranquilizers and sedatives were similar for American Indians and Alaska Natives and members of other racial groups. 

The complete report is available online at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/.
 
The NSDUH Report is published periodically by the Office of Applied Studies.  The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is an annual survey sponsored by SAMHSA.  The survey collects data by administering questionnaires to a representative sample of the population through face-to-face interviews at their place of residence.

New Report Provides Snapshot of Substance Use Within 15 Largest U.S. Metropolitan Areas

The two U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest rates of past-month illicit drug use are San Francisco (12.7 percent) and Detroit (9.5 percent), while the national average was 8.1 percent, says a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Chicago (25.7 percent) and Houston (25.6 percent) had higher rates of binge drinking than the national average (22.7 percent), and Detroit was the only metropolitan statistical area with a past month cigarette use rate that was higher than the national average (25.3 percent).

The NSDUH Report: Substance Use in the 15 Largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 2002-2005 compares estimates for illicit drug use, binge alcohol use, and cigarette use for the nation as a whole with the same behaviors in the 15 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

An MSA is a core area containing a large population nucleus together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. Approximately one third of the U.S. population lived in the 15 largest MSAs in 2005.

MSAs with rates of illicit drug use that were lower than the national average include Houston (6.2 percent), Dallas (6.5 percent), and Washington, DC (6.5 percent). Rates of binge drinking were lower than the national average in the Los Angeles (18.6 percent) Riverside/San Bernardino (19 percent), Washington, DC (19 percent), and New York (21.3 percent) MSAs. The Los Angeles (17.9 percent), San Francisco (17.9 percent), Riverside/San Bernardino (19.2 percent), Washington, DC (19.8 percent), Boston (20.8 percent), Seattle (21.4 percent), Miami (22 percent), and New York (22.5 percent). MSAs all had lower rates of past-month cigarette use than the nation as a whole.

The complete report is available online at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/.

NCSL Technical Assistance on Addiction Treatment and Financing

State legislators can call on NCSL to provide technical assistance on the treatment (and financing the treatment) of alcoholism and drug addiction.  NCSL can fund a one-day conference, briefing or workshop for a legislative committee or study commission, and can include presentations, information and testimony by legislators from other states, as well as treatment experts in the field, state agency directors and university researchers.  Agendas are tailored to individual states’ needs; possible subjects include: methamphetamine addiction, drug courts, diversion, alcohol and drug abuse by youth, treatment for women, use of TANF funds for treatment, parity and other issues.  To learn more about the services NCSL can provide, contact Allison Colker at 202.624.3581 or Allison.Colker@ncsl.org

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