Drug Addiction Statistics In Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is among some of the highest-ranking states in the U.S. in terms of drinking and drug abuse.

Unfortunately, it also sees some of the most severe impacts of the repercussions of drug and alcohol abuse.

One study ranked Pennsylvania in the top 20 states with the heaviest drinking rates. The statistics below should help illustrate this:

1. 60% of adults drink alcohol in Pennsylvania.
2. 28% of adults are binge drinkers (5 or more drinks in 2 hours) in Pennsylvania.
3. 4% of adults have an alcohol use disorder.

What's more alarming is the drug use rates, with around 293,000 people living with an active substance abuse disorder in the past year.

Pennsylvania has the third-highest opioid overdose rate out of all states in the U.S. Opioids are responsible for 65% ofall overdose deaths in the U.S. The number of deaths caused by opioid abuse is five times higher than those related to alcohol use.

Commonly Abused Substances

1. Physicians throughout Pennsylvania provided almost 50 opioid prescriptions per 100 people in 2018 along.
2. More than 404,000 people ages 12 and older in Pennsylvania, 3.7% of that population, reported misusing or abusing prescription painkillers over the last year.
3. 64,000 people in Pennsylvania used heroin at least once during the last year.
4. Cocaine is the most-used illicit drug in the state of Pennsylvania. Around 231,000 people (more than 2%) of the population ages 12 and older have used cocaine in the last year.
5. Methamphetamine was used by almost 60,000 people in 2018 in the state of Pennsylvania alone.

Adolescent Substance Abuse In Pennsylvania

Rates of substance abuse among Pennsylvania high schoolers include:

1. 13% of students binge drank at least once in the past month.
2. 31% of students had at least one drink in the past month.
3. 33% have used marijuana.
4. 6% have used inhalants.
5. 3% have used pain relievers.
6. 3% have used cocaine.