STRAFFORD COUNTY COMMUNITY NEEDS

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

WE USE MORE ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND OTHER DRUGS
THAN MANY PEOPLE IN THE U.S.

Source: New Hampshire Office of Alcohol and Drug Policy, Overcoming the Impact of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems,
A Plan for New Hampshire, April 2007
Data in these tables from SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2002-2003 Reports

On average, more than one in five Americans went on a recent drinking binge, and about one in 10 smoked marijuana in the previous year. Those are among the conclusions from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, a landmark study using extensive data taken from surveys of 136,000 people to track the nation's substance abuse problem.

The surveys, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, used inperson interviews with people in four age groups: 12 to 17, 18 to 25, 26 and older, and all people 12 and older.

The study showed more than 50% of Americans drank alcohol in the previous month. The hardest drinking states are Colorado, Connecticut, lowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Isiand, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

States with the highest rates of marijuana use were Alaska, Colorado, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Nine out of 10 places where a large proportion of the population uses cocaine also have the highest rate of people with serious drug dependence, the study found. The places that ranked highest for both measures were Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.

New Hampshire

Highest past month use of marijuana in nation: 10.2%

Highest past month use of alcohol in nation: 59.8%

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
State Estimates of Substance Use From the 2002-2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health
February, 2005

Source: Carsey Institute, Substance Abuse in Rural and Small Town America, 2006

Source: SAMHSA, Drug Abuse Warning Nertwork, 2003

“82% OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ADULTS PERSONALLY KNOW A RELATIVE, CLOSE
FRIEND, OR SOMEONE AT WORK WHO HAS HAD A PROBLEM WITH ALCOHOL AND/OR DRUGS.”
Source: University of New Hampshire Survey Center (2001)

65% OF NEW HAMPSHIRE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
BELIEVE THAT THEIR OFFENDERS WERE USING ALCOHOL DURING THEIR MOST
RECENT VIOLENT EPISODE.
Source: New Futures (1998)

IN 2000, 1 OUT OF 5 FAMILIES ASSESSED BY THE NEW HAMPSHIRE DIVISION OF
CHILDREN AND YOUTH WERE FOUND TO HAVE ALCOHOL AND/OR OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS.
Source: NH Division of Children, Youth and Families (2001)

AT LEAST 14 TREATMENT PROGRAMS HAVE CLOSED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE PAST TEN YEARS. (INCLUDES PROSPECTS AT FRISBIE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, ROCHESTER, AND SEABORNE HOSPITAL, DOVER).

Substance abuse is a problem for New Hampshire residents of all ages, but the problem is particularly acute for teenagers. Young people who smoke cigarettes, consume alcohol and use other recreational drugs are compromising their physical and mental health. Alcohol is often a factor in unprotected sex, motor vehicle accidents, and violence.

The Teen Assessment Project is an effort of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension to quantify risky youth behavior on the local level. In the Seacoast area, the Dover, Exeter and Oyster River (Durham, Lee, and Madbury) school districts have administered the TAP survey to their 7-12th graders. It is likely that the behaviors reported below are somewhat indicative of the region as a whole.

Average alcohol consumption rates for these three school districts:

•55% of youth in grades 7-12 have used alcohol at some time.

•36% of high school students used alcohol at least once in the past month.

•12% of high school students reported weekly use of alcohol.

•9% of middle schoolers reported using alcohol at least once a month.

•44% of high school seniors reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row) in the past month.

•11% of middle schoolers reported binge drinking in the past month.

In Oyster River, 8% of middle schoolers and 46% of high school seniors reported binge drinking in the past month.

In Dover, 15% of middle schoolers and 51% of seniors reported binge drinking in the past month.

Average tobacco use rates for Dover, Exeter and Oyster River:

•38% of all youth have smoked tobacco at some time.

•4% of middle schoolers report smoking once a week or more.

•17% of high school students report smoking once a week or more.

Average marijuana rates for Dover, Exeter and Oyster River:

•31% have used marijuana at some time.

•2% of middle schoolers report using marijuana at least once a week

•13% of high school students reporting using marijuana at least once a week.

In Dover, 11% of 7-12th graders have used inhalants at some time, and 26% believe that use of inhalants carries no risk or a slight risk. In Exeter, 8% of students have used inhalants, and 21% believe inhalant use carries no risk or only slight risk.

A growing drug problem in the Seacoast is the use of Ecstasy and other so-called designer drugs. In Southern New Hampshire, two ecstasy pills were seized in 1997; 273 were seized in 1998, and in 2000, over 900 were seized in the Portsmouth-Manchester corridor.

According to alcohol and drug abuse treatment center Southeastern New Hampshire Services, there is an "epidemic of heroin use" by young people, both nationally and locally.

Southeastern New Hampshire Services has gotten its first on-call physician in the winter of 2002. Dr. Lawrence Sanders joined the staff under a $25,000 donation from Wentworth-Douglass and Frisbie Memorial hospitals. The organization, which is located on County Farm Road in Dover, will be the only public detoxification center to have its own doctor.

Southeastern New Hampshire Services offers a six-bed treatment center and social detox program for clients who do not have insurance and are open to treatment. Following detox, clients are referred to 28-day programs at state-run facilities and can return to Southeastern’s Turning Point Program, a halfway house program with 18 beds where clients live, work and participate in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Southeastern New Hampshire Services serves 130 to 150 clients annually with the detox program, 70 clients in the residential treatment programs and 500 more on an outpatient basis.