Drug Abuse

Treatment Admissions for Injection Drug Abuse: 2003

 In 2003, there were 237,000 admissions for injection drug abuse (13 percent of all admissions)

Opiates accounted for 77 percent of admissions for injection drug abuse, followed by stimulants (16 percent) and cocaine (6 percent)

Most admissions for injected opiates were self/individually referred to addiction treatment (58 percent), while most admissions for injected stimulants were referred by the criminal justice system (44 percent)

Injection drug abusers are at high risk of blood-borne infections, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, through the sharing of syringes and other injection paraphernalia.1,2,3 In 2003, there were about 199,000 admissions reported to the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for which the primary drug of abuse4 was injected. Injection drug abuse secondary to a non-injected substance was reported by an additional 38,000 admissions.  This report presents characteristics of these 237,000 injection drug admissions (primary and secondary) to addiction treatment. TEDS collects data on the approximately 1.8 million annual admissions to substance abuse treatment facilities, primarily those that receive some public funding. Heroin addiction and other opiate addiction accounted for 77 percent of all admissions involving injection drug use. The other most commonly reported injected drugs were stimulants (16 percent) and cocaine (6 percent).

The number of admissions for any injection drug abuse increased by 18 percent between 1992 and 2003, while admissions not involving injection rose by 20 percent. Admissions for injected opiates rose 23 percent between 1992 and 2003. In the same period, the number of admissions for injected stimulants increased by 204 percent, and admissions for injected cocaine fell by 63 percent.