Date: 6/19/2008
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
Telephone: 240-276-2130
New SAMHSA Report Pinpoints Substance Use and Mental Health Problems in
Individual Localities Throughout the Nation
Survey reveals wide variations and
unexpected patterns of substance use and mental illness
across more than 340 localities across the United States
Mental health and substance abuse problems affect every local community
throughout America – but in unique, and sometimes surprising
ways, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report offers
highly detailed analyses of the substance abuse and mental
health problems occurring within these smaller geographical
areas.
For example, one of the smaller geographical (or
substate) areas in the survey --Utah’s Salt Lake and
Weber-Morgan Counties – have among the nation’s highest
levels of persons aged 12 or older using painkillers for
non-medical reasons. In these two counties, levels were as
high as 7.92 percent. In contrast, areas of the District of
Columbia had some of the nation’s lowest levels of this type
of substance abuse, as low as 2.48 percent in parts of the
city.
Yet the exact same communities in Utah had the among the
nation’s lowest levels of underage binge alcohol use in the
past month (as low as 8.72 percent of those age 12 to 20).
The District of Columbia had equally low levels in some
parts of the city, but other parts had some of the nation’s
highest levels (as high as 39.01 percent among this age
group).
“The findings reveal that the nation’s substance abuse
and the mental health problems are fundamentally local in
character and might be addressed directly most effectively
at that level,” said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D.
“This report provides local public health authorities
sharper insight into the nature and scope of the substance
abuse and mental health problems affecting their
communities.”
The SAMHSA report, Substate Estimates from the 2004-2006
National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, measures and
analyzes 23 substance abuse and mental health-related
behavior levels in 345 substate regions representing all 50
states and the District of Columbia. In most states, the
substate regions are defined in terms of counties or groups
of counties. In a few states, these areas are defined in
terms of census tracts. The results were based on the
combined data from SAMHSA's 2004 to 2006 National Surveys on Drug
Use and Health (NSDUH) and involved responses from 203,870
people age 12 or older throughout the United States.
The full SAMHSA report is available on the Web at
http://oas.samhsa.gov/substate2k8/toc.cfm . A
SAMHSA short report, Nonmedical Use of Pain Relievers in Substate Regions: 2004
to 2006, can be found on the Web at
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/pain/substate.cfm . For related publications and
information, visit
http://www.samhsa.gov/.
SAMHSA is a public health agency within
the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is
responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and
effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention,
addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery
system.
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