Behind the staggering statistic that one in four Americans used illicit drugs in the past year lies a global crisis of addiction and loss, as revealed by data showing everything from the 107,941 overdose deaths in the U.S. to the $740 billion annual economic toll.
Key Takeaways
- In 2021, approximately 70.4 million people aged 12 or older (25.0% of the U.S. population) used illicit drugs in the past year
- Worldwide, an estimated 296 million people used drugs in 2021, which is 5.8% of the global adult population
- In the United States, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in 2022, with 18.7% of people aged 12+ reporting past-year use
- Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. reached 107,941 in 2022, a 4% increase from 2021
- Opioids were involved in 81,806 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2022
- Fentanyl and synthetic opioids caused 73,838 deaths in the U.S. in 2022
- The economic cost of drug abuse in the U.S. was $740 billion annually in lost productivity, healthcare, and criminal justice
- Opioid crisis cost U.S. states $1.02 trillion from 2017-2022 in economic burden
- Global illicit drug trade valued at $650 billion in 2022
- U.S. adults aged 18-25 had the highest past-year illicit drug use rate at 39.3% in 2021
- Males are 1.5 times more likely than females to use illicit drugs in the U.S.
- Among U.S. adolescents aged 12-17, Native Americans had 19.6% past-year illicit drug use in 2021, highest rate
- In 2021, 2.0 million U.S. people aged 12+ received treatment for SUD at specialty facility
- Only 10.4% of U.S. people with SUD received any treatment in 2021
- Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) reached 1.2 million with OUD in U.S. 2021
Drug abuse is a widespread global epidemic with devastating human and economic costs.
Demographics
- U.S. adults aged 18-25 had the highest past-year illicit drug use rate at 39.3% in 2021
- Males are 1.5 times more likely than females to use illicit drugs in the U.S.
- Among U.S. adolescents aged 12-17, Native Americans had 19.6% past-year illicit drug use in 2021, highest rate
- Urban U.S. residents had higher drug use rates (25.4%) than rural (22.1%) in 2021
- U.S. adults with less than high school education had 30.1% past-year drug use vs. 21.4% college grads
- Globally, males comprise 75% of people in treatment for drug use disorders
- In U.S., 16.5% of unemployed adults used illicit drugs past year vs. 22.4% full-time employed
- African Americans in U.S. had 23.8% past-year marijuana use rate in 2021
- LGBTQ+ youth report 40% higher substance use rates than heterosexual peers
- In Europe, 15-24 year olds have highest cannabis use at 17% past-year prevalence
- U.S. poor income (<100% FPL) had 28.5% drug use rate vs. high income 23.1% in 2021
- Women in U.S. with children under 18 had higher prescription misuse rates (8.2%)
- Hispanic U.S. adults had 25.6% past-year illicit drug use in 2021
- Military veterans have 11% lifetime drug use disorder rate vs. 5% civilians
- In Australia, Indigenous people have 3x higher illicit drug use rates than non-Indigenous
- U.S. young adults 18-25 had 13.3% marijuana use disorder rate in 2021
- Transgender individuals report 2x higher drug use rates for coping with discrimination
- Rural U.S. adolescents had higher prescription opioid misuse (9.4%) than urban (5.2%)
- In Canada, 25-34 year olds had highest opioid use disorder rates at 3.1%
- U.S. divorced/widowed adults had 29.4% drug use vs. 23.5% married
- Asian Americans lowest U.S. drug use rate at 15.2% past-year in 2021
- Pregnant U.S. women had 5.4% illicit drug use rate in past month 2021
- College students U.S. binge drink + drug use at 25% rate
- In Brazil, low-income favelas have 5x higher crack use prevalence
- U.S. adults 26+ had 11.2% past-month alcohol use disorder rate among heavy users
- Elderly U.S. adults 65+ have rising benzodiazepine misuse at 2.6%
Demographics Interpretation
This sobering constellation of data reveals that drug abuse is less a personal failing and more a societal fever chart, spiking predictably along the fractures of youth, poverty, discrimination, and trauma.
Economic Costs
- The economic cost of drug abuse in the U.S. was $740 billion annually in lost productivity, healthcare, and criminal justice
- Opioid crisis cost U.S. states $1.02 trillion from 2017-2022 in economic burden
- Global illicit drug trade valued at $650 billion in 2022
- U.S. drug-related healthcare spending reached $85 billion in 2020
- Lost workplace productivity from drug use disorders costs U.S. $249 billion yearly
- Criminal justice costs for drug offenses in U.S. exceed $100 billion annually
- In Europe, drug-related health damage costs €65 billion per year per EMCDDA 2022
- U.S. premature deaths from drugs cost $1.02 trillion in 2017 alone in lost output
- Methamphetamine production and trafficking generate $20-50 billion in U.S. underground economy yearly
- Alcohol misuse costs U.S. economy $249 billion annually, overlapping with drug costs
- Global treatment for drug use disorders costs only $3.5 billion yearly vs. $100 billion needed
- Fentanyl crisis led to $1.5 trillion in U.S. economic losses projected over a decade
- Drug-related absenteeism costs U.S. employers $84 billion per year
- In Canada, opioid crisis economic burden was CAD 49 billion from 2016-2021
- U.S. foster care costs rose 20% due to parental drug abuse, totaling $10 billion yearly
- Drug trafficking fuels 20% of organized crime revenue globally, estimated at $130 billion
- Emergency department visits for drugs cost U.S. Medicare $2.6 billion in 2011
- In Australia, illicit drugs cost AUD 25.2 billion in 2015-16
- U.S. drug courts save $4,000-$13,000 per participant in reduced incarceration costs
- Homelessness linked to drug abuse costs U.S. cities $30,000 per person annually
- Productivity losses from opioid use disorder averaged $11,000 per person yearly
- Drug-related motor vehicle crashes cost U.S. $50 billion annually
- In the UK, drug misuse societal costs were £19.3 billion in 2018/19
Economic Costs Interpretation
The staggering financial toll of drug abuse reveals a society hemorrhaging trillions from lost lives and productivity, while spending a comparative pittance to actually heal its people.
Health Consequences
- Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. reached 107,941 in 2022, a 4% increase from 2021
- Opioids were involved in 81,806 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2022
- Fentanyl and synthetic opioids caused 73,838 deaths in the U.S. in 2022
- Stimulant-involved overdose deaths rose to 33,663 in the U.S. in 2022, up 9% from prior year
- In 2021, 36,469 cocaine-involved overdose deaths occurred in the U.S.
- Methamphetamine-related overdose deaths increased 50-fold from 2012 to 2022 in the U.S., totaling over 36,000 in 2022
- Heroin overdose deaths dropped to 13,315 in the U.S. in 2022 from higher peaks
- Alcohol contributes to 178,000 deaths annually in the U.S., including from drug interactions
- Cannabis use disorder affects 30% of marijuana users, leading to respiratory issues in 20-30% chronic users
- Long-term opioid use leads to addiction in 8-12% of patients prescribed for chronic pain
- Injecting drug use accounts for 10% of new HIV infections globally
- 35% of drug-related deaths worldwide involve multiple substances, per 2022 data
- Chronic methamphetamine use causes brain dopamine system damage in 50-80% of heavy users
- Cocaine use increases heart attack risk by 24 times within the first hour of use
- Prescription sedative misuse linked to 13,486 overdose deaths in U.S. 2021
- Neonatal abstinence syndrome affected 7 per 1,000 U.S. hospital births in 2017 due to prenatal opioid exposure
- Heavy alcohol use causes liver cirrhosis in 20-30% of chronic drinkers over time
- MDMA use associated with hyperthermia and serotonin syndrome in 15% of emergency visits
- Inhalant abuse leads to sudden sniffing death syndrome in 5-15% of chronic users
- Psychedelic use like LSD rarely causes direct overdose but 22% report persistent psychosis
- Kratom-related calls to U.S. poison centers rose 62-fold from 2011-2021
- Benzodiazepine overdoses tripled from 2002-2015, often with opioids
- Chronic cannabis smoking impairs lung function similar to tobacco in 20% users
- Opioid use disorder increases fracture risk by 2.3 times due to falls
- Stimulant use linked to 27% increase in stroke risk among young adults
- Alcohol-drug polydrug use accounts for 40% of fatal overdoses in Europe
Health Consequences Interpretation
Even as heroin retreats, the grim arithmetic of America's drug crisis keeps recalculating, with synthetic opioids writing the main tragedy and a chorus of other substances ensuring the death toll is a relentlessly rising sum of countless personal catastrophes.
Treatment
- In 2021, 2.0 million U.S. people aged 12+ received treatment for SUD at specialty facility
- Only 10.4% of U.S. people with SUD received any treatment in 2021
- Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) reached 1.2 million with OUD in U.S. 2021
- Buprenorphine prescriptions for OUD increased 68% from 2018-2022 in U.S.
- U.S. SUD treatment admissions for opioids were 45% of total in 2020
- Retention in methadone treatment averages 50% at 6 months for OUD
- Contingency management boosts stimulant abstinence by 50% in trials
- 48% of U.S. adults in treatment relapsed within 1 year post-discharge 2021
- Telehealth SUD treatment visits surged 60% during COVID-19 in U.S.
- Global coverage of drug treatment is 1 in 7 people needing it
- In Europe, 750,000 people in outpatient drug treatment in 2021 per EMCDDA
- Naltrexone reduces opioid relapse by 50% in first 6 months per studies
- Cognitive behavioral therapy success rate 40-60% for cocaine dependence
- U.S. residential treatment completion rate averages 55% for all substances
- Methadone clinics in U.S. treat 400,000 OUD patients annually
- 12-step programs like NA have 20-30% long-term abstinence rates
- Harm reduction syringe programs reduced HIV transmission 50% in U.S. cities
- Fentanyl test strip distribution increased safe use awareness by 70% in pilots
- In Australia, opioid agonist therapy retention 70% at 12 months
- U.S. adolescents in treatment 70% cited marijuana as primary drug 2020
- Vivitrol (extended-release naltrexone) used by 20% of MAT patients in U.S.
Treatment Interpretation
We are finally prescribing common sense and innovative treatments more widely, yet our collective war on drugs still resembles a neglected garden where we sprinkle water on a few thirsty plants while pretending we don't see the rest of the field withering away.
Usage Prevalence
- In 2021, approximately 70.4 million people aged 12 or older (25.0% of the U.S. population) used illicit drugs in the past year
- Worldwide, an estimated 296 million people used drugs in 2021, which is 5.8% of the global adult population
- In the United States, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in 2022, with 18.7% of people aged 12+ reporting past-year use
- About 48.7 million Americans aged 12 or older (17.3%) used marijuana in the past year as of 2021 data
- In Europe, cannabis remains the most used drug, with 21.8 million young adults (15-34) having used it in the last year per 2022 EMCDDA data
- Prescription opioid misuse affected 9.3 million people aged 12+ in the U.S. in 2021
- Globally, 40 million people suffer from drug use disorders, representing 13% of those who use drugs
- In 2022, 6.1 million U.S. adults misused prescription pain relievers in the past year
- Amphetamine use reached 30 million past-year users globally in 2021
- In the U.S., 2.7 million people aged 12+ had cocaine use disorder in 2021
- Heroin use in the past year was reported by 828,000 Americans aged 12+ in 2021
- Methamphetamine past-year use among U.S. adults aged 18+ was 2.5% in 2021
- In Australia, 3.4 million people (16.4%) used illicit drugs in the past 12 months per 2022-2023 NDSHS
- Lifetime ecstasy/MDMA use among U.S. young adults (18-25) was 10.5% in 2021
- Inhalant past-year use was reported by 1.1 million U.S. adolescents aged 12-17 in 2021
- Hallucinogen use in the past year affected 2.6 million U.S. people aged 12+ in 2021
- In Canada, 21% of the population aged 15+ reported past-year cannabis use in 2022
- Global past-year opioid use (excluding prescription misuse) was 60 million people in 2021
- U.S. past-month binge alcohol use combined with illicit drugs was 5.3 million people aged 12+ in 2021
- In the UK, 1 in 10 adults aged 16-59 used drugs in the last year per 2022 CSEW
- LSD past-year use among U.S. adults was 0.9% in 2021
- In Brazil, lifetime crack-cocaine use prevalence is 2.4% among adults
- U.S. past-year tranquilizer/sedative misuse was 4.9 million people aged 12+ in 2021
- Global cocaine use hit 22 million past-year users in 2021
- Among U.S. high school seniors, 29.8% reported lifetime marijuana use in 2022
- In South Africa, 15% of adults used cannabis in the past year per 2019 survey
- U.S. past-year PCP use was 93,000 people aged 12+ in 2021
- In Mexico, 11.6% of adults aged 12-65 used illicit drugs in the past year per 2016-2017 survey
- Global past-year cannabis use was 219 million people in 2021
Usage Prevalence Interpretation
These statistics paint a sobering, global portrait of self-medication, revealing that for every person seeking a chemical escape from reality, there's an unmet need—or a dangerous curiosity—lurking in the real world we've built.
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