Drug Use, Abuse and Dependence (Addiction) In America
To weigh the costs and benefits of our drug policy, one of the three key elements is to clearly understand the size and nature of the drug problem. (This will help us evaluate whether current policy actually has - or could have - a positive impact on the problem and balance that against the enormous harm being done by the unintended side effects of the policy.)
Reactions to drugs vary widely among individuals. Those individual reactions also vary widely based on dosage - the amount used and the time within which it is used. Political rhetoric and media reports emphasize the most sensational and unusual cases. Most such cases are true and horrible but they create false impressions that only broad based analysis can dispel.
The data here come from government sources - primarily SAMHSA (http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k6nsduh/2k6Results.cfm#TOC) - which often report a combined category called "abuse or dependence". Each makes up about half of "abuse or dependence." All figures represent the government's best estimates. The government cautions against making comparisons with data from before 2002 when data collection techniques changed. However, there seems to be little change in the broadest sense from 100 years ago, when all the drugs were legal, except for the increased acceptance of social use of marijuana into the culture, the gradual but marked decline in tobacco use and, to a lesser extent, the decrease in abuse of alcohol.
Abuse and dependence (addiction) involve significant harm due to use and are defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) from the American Psychiatric Association.
Drug "use" may involve no harm at all up to occasional episodes of serious abuse and also includes "abuse or dependence." "Drug use" - which may report only one use of some drug in a lifetime or more regular use - is the figure normally reported to the public. This both confuses and greatly exaggerates problematic use.
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