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NCSL Substance Abuse Snapshot

Matthew Gever, Staff Writer
Allison Colker, Editor

April 30, 2008

Emerging Issues

Driving Under the Influence Highest in Midwest

More than a quarter of all drivers in some Midwestern states have reported driving under the influence of alcohol or an illicit drug, according to a new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration. The report examines DUI levels on a state-by-state basis and found that nationally, 15 percent of adult drivers have reported driving while under the influence of alcohol. Wisconsin has the highest DUI rate, with the next five highest states coming from the same region. Utah had the lowest DUI rates, while regionally, the South had the lowest overall numbers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were almost 16,700 deaths in 2004 caused by accidents related to driving under the influence of alcohol, making it one of the largest causes of preventable deaths in the nation.

* The standard error (SE) is a measure of these sampling variability of an estimate, where smaller values represent greater precision and larger values represent less precision. 

SOURCE: Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2004-2006

Criminal Justice Interventions

D.C. Appropriates Expansion of Needle Exchanges

Washington, D.C. will spend $494,000 in city money to expand needle-exchange programs in the city by the summer, the Washington Post reports. D.C. was federally barred from spending public funds on needle exchanges up until early this year, when President Bush signed an omnibus bill lifting the ban. It was the only city in the U.S. subject to such a ban. Half the money will go to PreventionWorks!, a non-profit group which currently runs the District's only current program. The group will use the money to expand outreach efforts. The rest of the money will go to a series of local non-profits that serve at-risk populations. In 2007, D.C. health officials released a report that found that injected drug use is the second leading cause of HIV/AIDS transmission in the city.

Preventing HIV in Prisoners

Needle-exchange programs can help stem the tide of HIV/AIDS infections in prisoners, according to recent panel on the disease correctional settings, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports. According to new data from the American Foundation for AIDS Research, prisoners are three times more likely to be HIV-positive than the general population, mostly resulting from needle-sharing among drug users and tattoos. Barry Zack, a panelist and correctional health program consultant, recommended for prisons to establish needle-exchanges among a slew of other preventative measures in order to help reduce transmissions. More than 90 percent of inmates are eventually released, which leaves communities with the burden of caring for those infected.

Treatment Services

New Drug for Alcohol Treatment
Aripiprazole, a drug commonly used to treat psychosis, may hold promise for treating those with alcohol addiction, according to a new report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Specifically, the study found that the medication increased the sedative effects of alcohol in patients while blocking the euphoric effects. This would reduce the reinforcing effects of alcohol and can help curb heavy drinking.

Anti-Addiction Pills Linked to Depression

Medications used to treat addiction may increase the risk of depression and suicide in some patients, the Associated Press reports. The article references recent studies on drugs such as Chantix—which is used to treat smoking addiction— and Rimonabant and Taranabant, which are commonly used to treat obesity. These drugs work mainly by blocking pleasure receptors in the brain, meant to take the pleasurable effects out of these actions. However, these medications may be blocking to much joy in patients, which leads to depression.

Drug Specific Issues

How Doctors Can Stem Opiate Abuse
Doctors can have a more active role in reducing opiate abuse among their patients, finds a new study from the University of Michigan. In the study, a busy multi-physician office in Ohio implemented a policy that logged and carefully screened all patients receiving drugs for non-cancer pain, which included a mandatory urine test. The clinic also required patients and doctors to sign an agreement that listed the steps the clinic would take and what behaviors would affect patient eligibility. Doctors were also trained on using Ohio’s prescription monitoring program to learn how to spot “doctor shopping.” These actions helped identify patients who were using other illicit drugs, which can interact dangerously with painkillers. The study found that 35 percent of the patients were violating the new policy in some way. Most violations were discovered either through the urine test—which brought up other drug use—or through the prescription monitoring program. When a patient was discovered to have signs of abuse, he was referred to treatment rather than to law enforcement.

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