Facts About Addiction and Treatment

The Addiction Problem

• In 2006, 1.8 million people were admitted to drug treatment facilities in the U.S. About 32% of these were women.
• Heroin admissions represented 13.7% of the total admissions in Pennsylvania. In 2007, 39% of the total admissions in New Jersey reported heroin as their primary drug.
• Opiates other than heroin accounted for 4.2% of the total admissions. Non-heroin opiates include codeine, morphine, opium, oxycodone, Dilaudid, Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, and other drugs with morphine-like effects.
• The 2003 National Survey also shows that 1.4 million Americans abuse or are dependent upon pain relievers, and that 580,000 people used pain relievers non-medically for the first time in 2002.
• 8.2% of youths aged 12 to 17 needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem in 2006.
• Contrary to popular stereotypes, about 76% of illicit drug users are employed either full or part time. Employed drug abusers cost their employers about twice as much in medical and worker compensation claims as their drug-free coworkers.
• Approximately 11% of all children in the United States live with at least one parent who is in need of treatment for alcohol or drug dependency.

The Treatment Solution

• Overall, treatment of addiction is as successful as treatment of other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma.
• Of the various treatments available, Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT), combined with counseling and professional help for medical, psychiatric, and socioeconomic issues, has the highest probability of being effective.¹
• “Methadone is one of the longest-established, most thoroughly evaluated forms of drug treatment. The science is overwhelming in its finding about methadone treatment’s effectiveness. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study found, for example, that methadone treatment reduced participants’ heroin use by 70%, their criminal activity by 57%, and increased their full-time employment by 24%.”²
• Methadone works on many levels. It relieves the craving for opiates that is a major factor in relapse, relieves withdrawal symptoms, and does not cause euphoria or intoxication, thus allowing a person to work and participate normally in society. It also reduces deaths—the median death rate of opiate-dependent individuals in treatment is 30 percent of the rate of those not in treatment.³
• Research shows that drug addiction treatment reduces the risk of HIV infection. Drug injectors who do not enter treatment are up to six times more likely to become infected with HIV than injectors who enter and remain in treatment.
• Treatment can improve the prospects for employment, with gains of up to 40% after a single treatment episode.
• Comprehensive treatment with Methadone is cost effective. The cost of treatment is about $4,000 per year, while incarceration costs about $20,000 to $23,500 per year.⁴

1   Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction NIH Consensus Statement 1997 Nov. 17–19; 15(6): 7.
2   McCaffrey, Barry, Statement of ONDCP Director Barry McCaffrey on Mayor Giuliani’s Recent Comments on Methadone Therapy, (Press Release) (Washington, DC: ONDCP), July 24, 1998.
3   CDC publication on IDU HIV Prevention. Methadone Maintenance Treatment, February 2002. http://www.cdc.gov/idu/facts/Methadone.htm
4   Criminal Justice Institute, Inc., The Corrections Yearbook 1997 (South Salem, NY: Criminal Justice Institute, Inc., 1997) [estimating cost of a day in jail on average to be $55.41 a day or $20,237 a year and the cost of prison to be on average to be about $64.49 a day or $23, 554 a year].

Additional Sources:
SAMHSA National Clearinghouse for Drug and Alcohol Information: http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/
Office of National Drug Control Policy Drug Facts: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/index.html