Alcohol and drug abuse treatment Information and Statistics in California
California is the most heavily populated State in the Nation with 32 million residents representing a wide range of racial, ethnic, social, and economic groups. As such, it has the largest estimated number of adults with substance dependence and abuse. The State\s Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP), created in 1978, is the single State authority for substance abuse prevention and treatment. The ADP had approximately 350 permanent staff members and a budget of more than $544 million for State fiscal year 2002-2003. Of this amount, $506.3 million (93 percent) is for local governments and communities to provide treatment, recovery, and prevention services; the remaining $37.9 million (7 percent) is for State-level support.
According to a report from the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) for fiscal year (FY) 1999, California reported the expenditure of $610.9 million for State-supported alcohol and other drug services. Of this amount, $429.4 million was spent on treatment services, and $71.9 million was spent on primary prevention. During 1999, California had a total of 911 State-supported alcohol/drug treatment units. The number of alcohol and other drug admissions for FY 1999 in California was 56,454 for alcohol and 160,273 for other drugs.
Alcohol Use
12.8 million adults (52.3 percent) had used alcohol in the past month, 4.8 million adults (19.6 percent) were binge drinkers, and 1.1 million (4.6 percent) were heavy alcohol users. An estimated 692,000 (2.8 percent) of the adult population had abused alcohol, and 740,000 (3.0 percent) met criteria for alcohol dependence. Among racial/ethnic groups, non-Hispanic whites had the highest prevalence of heavy alcohol use but were not significantly more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to have abuse or dependence. The prevalence rate of past month alcohol use was more than 60 percent for non-Hispanic whites, college graduates, and those with family incomes of $75,000 or more. However, college graduates had lower rates of binge drinking and heavy alcohol use than those with less education. Individuals in the highest family income category (i.e., $75,000 or more annually) had a significantly lower rate of binge drinking than those with family incomes of less than $50,000.
Illicit Drug Use
3.4 million adult Californians (14.1 percent) reported using illicit drugs in the past year. Marijuana and hashish were the most commonly used drugs?reported by 2.5 million people (10.1 percent)?followed by the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, which was reported by 1.6 million people (6.4 percent). About 3 percent of the population reported using cocaine, and 3 percent used other types of drugs (including heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants) in the past year. Persons in the 18 to 25 age group and those who had never been married had higher rates of past year illicit drug use (about 30 percent) and illicit drug dependence (about 6 percent) than other demographic groups. Compared with those having health insurance, those with no coverage had a higher rate of any illicit drug use. Residents in the Los Angeles and Riverside/San Bernadino MSAs had lower rates of any past year drug use than California residents who lived outside of the three largest MSAs. Whereas the sample sizes in these two MSAs were sufficient to conduct this analysis, most of the estimates for the Orange County MSA were suppressed due to insufficient sample sizes and/or large standard errors.
Alcohol or Illicit Drug Dependence or Abuse, Perceived Treatment Need, and Receipt of Substance Abuse Treatment
Almost 2 million adult Californians (7.9 percent) were dependent on or abused alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year. Only 497,000 people (2.1 percent) received addiction treatment in California for an alcohol or illicit drug problem in the past year, and only 210,000 (0.9 percent) who did not receive treatment perceived a need for treatment. An estimated 1.7 million Californians (6.8 percent) who were classified with abuse of or dependence on alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year did not receive treatment. Government assistance recipients were the most likely of all sociodemographic groups to both perceive a need for treatment and to receive it (2.7 and 5.5 percent, respectively). The sociodemographic groups with the highest percentage of residents who needed but did not receive treatment were those aged 18 to 25 (14.8 percent), followed by those who had never been married (12.3 percent) and those with no health insurance coverage (9.9 percent).
California and the Nation as a Whole
This report provides population survey-based estimates of the prevalence and treatment of substance use and abuse among adults in the State of California. Relative to adults aged 18 or older in the Nation as a whole, Californians were somewhat less likely to smoke and had a lower percentage of heavy alcohol users, although differences did not reach statistical significance. On the other hand, a significantly larger percentage of adult Californians had used illicit drugs in the past year compared with adults in the Nation as a whole. Prevalence rates of reported dependence or abuse of any illicit drug or alcohol in California were almost identical to those in the Nation as a whole. The percentage of Californians who had received treatment for drugs or alcohol was slightly higher than in the Nation, but the percentage of Californians who had received mental health treatment was slightly lower than in the Nation, although these differences were not statistically significant.
This report has identified several findings that may be important for State decisionmakers. Sociodemographic groups with the highest prevalence rates of substance use and abuse in California that may be targeted for further intervention and programmatic resource allocation include persons who have never been married, young adults, those with less than a college education, and those with no health insurance coverage. Indeed, given the overlap between these classifications, these characteristics may refer to the same group of high-risk individuals. Receipt of government assistance may facilitate entry into substance abuse treatment in this high-risk population. Significant differences found among the largest MSAs were a lower rate of current pipe or cigar smoking in the Los Angeles area, a lower rate of heavy alcohol use in Orange County, and lower rates of illicit drug use in the Los Angeles and Riverside/San Bernadino MSAs. Compared with the rest of California, Orange County had a significantly lower rate of treatment receipt for alcohol or drug problems, and Riverside/San Bernadino had a significantly lower rate of respondents who needed treatment but not receive it. Further investigation of county or MSA differences should control for differences in their demographic distributions.
This study of California drug abuse statistics was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration\'s Office of Applied Studies.
