Substance Dependence, Abuse, and Treatment: Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Abstract

This report provides the first information on substance dependence, abuse, and treatment obtained from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), a project of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Because of major changes to the NHSDA and the definition for measuring treatment need, these estimates cannot and should not be compared with estimates from previous years.

Individuals Seeking Treatment for Cannabis-Related Problems in Ontario: Demographic and Treatment Profile

“…Keeping in mind that this is a conservative estimate of the provincial level of need for cannabis treatment, as it does not adequately take into account all individuals experiencing cannabis-related problems, there is a potentially large unrecognized and unmet need for cannabis treatment. Data from the 2000 NHSDA suggest that only about one-quarter of those in need in the USA received cannabis treatment [9] .…”

“…The risk of developing cannabis-related problems appears to be inversely related to age, such that adolescents and young adults are more prone to cannabis dependence than are adults [1] . For instance, the rate of cannabis use disorders is estimated at over 3% of adolescents and 4% of young adults in the USA [9] . This is concerning given evidence that the age of fi rst use of cannabis decreased steadily through the latter half of the last century [1,10] , and that the rate of past-year cannabis use among adolescents increased through the 1990s in many countries [11] .…”

“…In 2000 in Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, approximately 0.5% of people in Ontario, or 5% of past-year users, were estimated to meet ICD-10 criteria for cannabis depen-dence [8] . According to the 2000 US National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), approximately 0.8% of the US population met DSM criteria for cannabis dependence, and another 0.5% for cannabis abuse [9] . The risk of developing cannabis-related problems appears to be inversely related to age, such that adolescents and young adults are more prone to cannabis dependence than are adults [1] .…”

The association of self-reported neighborhood disorganization and social capital with adolescent alcohol and drug use, dependence, and access to treatment

“…This distinction is particularly important given the significant unmet need for adolescent AOD treatment. Using a nationally representative sample, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2000 found that only 11.4% of 12-to 17-year-olds who needed treatment for illicit drug addiction received treatment (Epstein, 2002). Adolescent AOD treatment research usually recruits samples from treatment facilities.…”

Are cannabis users who participate in a randomized clinical trial different from other treatment seekers?

“…However, these rates do not consider the unmet need. Data from the 2000 National Household Survey in the United States suggest that approximately only one quarter of those in need received cannabis treatment (Epstein, 2002).…”