Statistics indicate that some demographics and communities face elevated risks of drug abuse and drug disorders. Accidental drug overdose is a leading cause of death among persons under the age of 45. For more information on individual- and environmental-level strategies, visit NIAAA’s CollegeAIM (which stands for College Alcohol Intervention Matrix) guide and interactive website. Revised and updated in 2020, CollegeAIM rates more than 60 alcohol interventions for effectiveness, cost, and other factors—and presents the information in a user-friendly and accessible way. That’s significantly higher than the four per cent increase in alcohol-related deaths among those 65 and older during the same time period. “Having said that, it’s not surprising. We know that alcohol consumption has gone up, although not by the degree with how deaths have.”
The Public Health Response: Prevention Strategies
Ultimately, measuring despair and determining causality remain key challenges for understanding the true role of despair in recent mortality trends. Qualitative research, which provides compelling evidence for the role of increasing despair in substance use and overdose, can offer insights for demographers, economists, and epidemiologists who seek to develop and test strong measures of despair. Prior to the mid-1990s, adults with non-cancer-related pain would rarely have been prescribed opioids except for short-term needs (e.g., sickle cell crises, kidney stones, postoperative recovery). However, the prevalence of (and possible increase in) adults with painful chronic health conditions provided a new market for opioids. Among adults with severe pain, the use of strong opioids more than doubled from 11.5 percent in 2001–2002 to 24.3 percent in 2013–2014. In a recent study of adults Oxford House ages 25–74 using data from the mid-1990s and early 2010s, Glei, Stokes, and Weinstein (2020) found that physical pain was linked more closely to the rise in the misuse12 of prescription opioids relative to other drugs.
alcohol-related causes of death
Strong leadership from a concerned college president in combination with engaged parents, an involved campus community, and a comprehensive program of evidence-based strategies can help address harmful student drinking. Although some students come to college already having some experience with alcohol, certain aspects of college life—such as unstructured time, widespread availability of alcohol, inconsistent enforcement of underage drinking laws, and limited interactions with parents and other adults—can lead to a problem. In fact, college students have higher binge-drinking rates and a higher incidence of driving under the influence of alcohol than their noncollege peers. Alcohol-related deaths significantly outnumber drug-related deaths, with over 95,000 fatalities annually in the U.S. alone. While both substances can lead to severe health issues, the causes of these deaths differ, with alcohol often linked to chronic conditions and accidents, whereas drug-related deaths frequently involve overdoses. Policy changes at local and national levels are also crucial in combating both alcohol and drug abuse effectively.
Maryland Alcohol Abuse Statistics
- New provisional data from CDC’s National Vital Statistics System predict a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths in the United States for the 12 months ending in September 2024, compared to the previous year.
- They found a similar lack of a cohort pattern among Blacks both with and without a 4-year college degree.
The graph below highlights the similar compositions of alcohol-induced deaths for both males and females. Females had a slightly higher proportion of alcohol-induced deaths which were due to acute alcohol toxicity (7.5% of deaths compared with 5.8% of deaths for males). The breakdown of alcohol use disorders by gender for any country can be viewed here; the majority of people with alcohol use disorders – around three-quarters – are male. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) refers to the drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. Globally, the age-standardized death rate has declined from approximately 40 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 30 deaths per 100,000 in 2019.
Public Health
These groups provide safe spaces where individuals can share experiences while receiving encouragement from others facing similar struggles. This data illustrates how both categories have fluctuated over recent years but highlights a concerning trend in rising drug-related fatalities. This rise in alcohol-related deaths difference between drugs and alcohol is “most likely going to hold steady,” Siegel said, unless the U.S. takes action in response to the problem. For example, research shows that raising taxes on alcohol can bring down consumption, according to both Esser and Siegel.
- Research suggests that creating a safer campus and reducing harmful and underage student drinking will likely come from a combination of individual- and environmental-level interventions that work together to maximize positive effects.
- The data also show that much more needs to be done to ensure that the reductions in alcohol, drug overdose, and suicide deaths are occurring in every community and among all population groups.
- This pattern held among White males in the younger working-age group (25–44); White, Black, and Hispanic males and females in the oldest working-age group (55–64); and Hispanic females ages 45–54.
- However, these surveys and systems have several critical gaps that need to be addressed.