[NYAPRS Enews] Report: Smoking Declines As Alcohol & Drug Use Remains Steady

[Matt Canuteson]

Report: Smoking Declines As Alcohol, Drug Use Hold Steady

By Janice Lloyd, USA Today June 4, 2009

 

A new report on substance abuse and mental health shows a small
percentage of people are kicking smoking while alcohol and illicit
drug-use levels remain steady.

But the report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, out Thursday, also carries home the message that while
all states have problems, there are big variations across the U.S. For
instance, the rate of illicit drug use in Iowa (5.2%) among the 12 and
older set is less than half what it is in Rhode Island (12.5%).

Many of the trends are similar to past studies, according to Art Hughes,
one of the report's lead statisticians, but he cited "the adverse
relationship between (perception of) risk of use and use itself" as
worthy of examining at the state level.

In states where people reported having a perception of great risk about
substance abuse, the problem is more often reported at lower levels than
in states where risk is not as great a concern, according to the study,
based on the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The 2006-2007
interview data is collected from 135,672 persons and is compared to the
2005-2006 data. Smoking declined from 24.96% to 24.63% with the greatest
decrease among 12 to 25 year olds.

"Cigarette use continues to decline," says Hughes. "One statistic we use
to try to gauge is the (perceived) risk of smoking cigarettes. If people
think it's risky to use cigarettes, we tend to see an opposite effect
happening."

For instance, California is among the states with highest percentage of
people who regard smoking as a health hazard (77.35%) and had the second
lowest smoking rate (19.79%) behind Utah (17.51%). Utah's perception of
risk was slightly lower (76.93%) than California's. Nationwide, a slight
drop was recorded compared to 2005-2006 (74.14% vs 73.86%). West
Virginia, on the other hand, has the highest rate of cigarette users of
all states (31.10%) for people aged 12 and older and has the lowest
perception of risk level associated with smoking (67.88%). Oklahoma and
Tennessee, which ranked No. 2 and 3 behind West Virginia for percentages
of smokers, were also among states with lowest perception of risk.

"We're painfully aware of the problem," said Teresa Mace, media director
of West Virginia's Office of Community Health Systems and Health
Promotion. "We have a state tobacco quit line and other kinds of
cessation programs that are offered to all West Virginians. We've gotten
a lot better at getting our message to the people who need to know but
it's hard to match the amounts spent by the tobacco industry."

Colorado is the only state showing an increase in tobacco use (from
26.5% to 29.8%) while seven states had declines: Idaho, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Montana, New York, Utah and West Virginia. The Northeast
region had a decrease as well (from 28.1% to 27.1%). Overall, national
rates changed only slightly (24.6%) from the 2005-2006 report (25%).

Alcohol still leads tobacco as the most commonly used substance. The
perceived risk associated with binge drinking (having five or more
drinks once or twice a week) also played a role in levels of drinking
and binge drinking among underage drinkers. North Dakota, which ranked
highest in both categories, ranked a lowly 47th among states in
perception of risk.

Drinking for the group of people over the age of 12 had similar results.
New Hampshire, which ranked No. 3 behind Rhode Island and Connecticut,
had the lowest percentage (33.21%) of perception of risk. Rhode Island
and Connecticut also ranked among the lowest 10.

"We produce this as a reference document for the states, " says Joe
Gfroerer, director of the division of population surveys. "It can lead
to more in-depth analysis and discussion about whether programs within
the states can help with problems."

Rhode Island had the highest percentage of persons aged 12 or older who
were needing but not receiving treatment for illicit drug use. The other
states that ranked highest for needing but not receiving treatment for
alcohol problems were mostly midwestern (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota,
South Dakota and Wisconsin) or westerm (Colorado, Montana and Wyoming.)
The District of Columbia and Massachusetts are in the top 10.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-04-drugs-alcohol-abuse_N.htm

 

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