This chart surprised me in a recent federal survey showing that the prevalence of illicit drug use in Texas is lower among all age categories than most other states. I was also surprised by the wide variation among states regarding illicit drug use. Vermont had the highest rate of past month illicit drug use among young adults aged 18 to 25 (31.0 percent), and Utah had the lowest rate in that age group (12.93 percent)." In Texas, the "last month" usage rate for that age group was 16.77 percent, very much on the low end of the scale.
Interestingly, Texas had about the same last-month use rate for non-medical use of pain relievers as for marinuana - 11.94% among those age 18-25 had taken pain pills for non-medical reasons, compared to 12.09% among that age group who'd smoked pot..
Given how many people we send away for drugs, and for how long, not to mention our proximity to the border, I guess I'd wrongly assumed Texas faced more serious drug abuse problems than other states. According to these data, alcohol still outpaces illegal drugs as Texans' intoxicant of choice by a country mile - 40.99% of Texans age 18-25 engaged in binge drinking in the past month, according to the survey.
The full report is available on the Web here, via Medical News Today.
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5 comments:
Now that we have drugs in our water, the use of pain killers for non medical purposes numbers will increase dramatically.
I wonder how much marijuana is in our water!
Well, with the economy in the tank we can't very well lay off all those warriors in the war on drugs can we?
All the Texans I know prefer binge drinking to any other illicit substance.
Grit's what is marinuana? SO NO TO DOPE!
I must admit that I've been known to "tip a few". I wasn't much of a drinker before moving to H town about 26 yrs ago. But it seems like every or most social event we attended was beer and bbq atmosphere or open bar. And it was something that was just accepted as part of it as time went on.
We don't frequent bars/clubs but there is available beverages in the garage fridge. And our employees/friends know it. A few years back I had a need to return up north for some legal work. It was a reality check as you couldn't run into the local convenience store and see individual alcoholic beverages iced down for a quick pick up. That was the beginning of a reality check for us.
I think a similar mental concept is there for our "youngsters" as it's no more just a keg party as it was in our day. It's what is just a normal acceptance for what their youthful society does.
For both - it's a shame.
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