Addiction Recovery Information

How dangerous is addiction really?

The United States is the largest consumer of illicit drugs and prescription medications in the world. The impacts of addiction on our society are everywhere – so much so in fact – that people often overlook the stranglehold that addiction has on so many lives.

Take a look at these statistics about addiction and drug abuse:

Alcohol use disorders are the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States (Frieberg & Samset, 2005).
Alcohol or illicit drug abuse is a factor in 50%-75% of all psychiatric admissions (Miller, 2005).
Alcohol dependence is the second most common psychiatric disorder in the United States (Mariani & Levin, 2004).
Between 40% and 60% of those who commit suicide were intoxicated at the time (Greenfield, 2007). One-third of suicide victims tested had evidence of alcohol and 10% had evidence of other drugs in their body at the time of their death (Karch, Cosby, & Simon, 2006).
Approximately 10% of those individuals with a substance use disorder eventually commit suicide (Getzfeld, 2006).
Fully 56% of all assaults in the United States are alcohol related (Dyehouse & Sommers, 1998).
Globally, it is estimated that 200 million people, or 5% of the world’s population, have abused an illicit substance at least once (United Nations, 2006a).
Although the United States makes up under 5% of the world’s population, by some estimates we consume 60% of the world’s illicit drugs (“Drug War Success Rates Challenged,” 2006).
Approximately 25% of patients seen by primary care physicians have an alcohol or drug problem (Jones, Knutson, & Haines, 2004).
Between 20% and 50% of all hospital admissions are related to the effects of alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction (Greenfield & Hennessy, 2004; McKay, Koranda, & Axen, 2004; Miller, 2004).
Between 24% and 31% of patients seen in the emergency room, and possibly as many as 50% of those patients who suffer severe injuries that require hospitalization, have an alcohol use disorder (D’Onofrio & Degutis, 2004).
Substance abuse, until recently, was the number one cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more people each year than any other preventable cause of death (Gold & Jacobs, 2005).
It is thought that 35% of men and 18% of women will develop some kind of substance use disorder at some point during their lives (Rhee et al., 2003).

The National Institute on Drug Abuse

Coinciding with the addiction statistics outlined above, the National Institute on Drug Abuse recently released the following statement about the estimated financial impact of addiction on both individuals and society:

Drug abuse and addiction have negative consequences for individuals and for society. Estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States, including productivity and health and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $193 billion for illicit drugs, $193 billion for tobacco, and $235 billion for alcohol. As staggering as these numbers are, they do not fully describe the breadth of destructive public health and safety implications of drug abuse and addiction, such as family disintegration, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence, and child abuse.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Addiction

When the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism conducted a recent survey of alcohol consumption across age brackets in the United States, this is what they found:

How many American adults (ages 18 and over) drank in the past year and how much did they drink? Answer
How frequently did American adults (ages 18 and over) drink in the past year? Answer

Addiction Treatment Options in Los Angeles

There are several different approaches for addiction treatment and recovery in Los Angeles. Most notably, the behavioral and clinical models of care. Based on current research, the clinically-based technique is the most widely viewed as “effective” in terms of measurable success outcomes for addiction recovery. However, the clinical model is expensive, although some programs do accept health insurance in order to offset the costs of care. Essentially, clinical programs offer comprehensive services, such as medical, psychiatric, therapeutic, and psychological forms of treatment. On the other side, behaviorally-based programs are less expensive as they rely more on 12 step meetings and group treatment processes.

To learn more about the types of addiction treatment available in Los Angeles visit the following resources:

If you would like to speak with a counselor about addiction treatment options call 1 877 267 4673.