Substance Abuse Trends in Maine

Substance Abuse Trends in Maine Presented by Tim Diomede

March 2012

Hornby Zeller Associates, Inc.

Purpose of the SEOW Purpose of the CESN

Dual Purposes of SEOW/CESN

Promote systematic, data-driven decision-making

Guide effective and efficient use of prevention resources

Identify substance abuse patterns

Establish and track substance abuse trends

Detect emerging substances and trends

Today’s Focus: State Epi Profile

Data Review and Key FindingsConsumptionConsequencesContributing FactorsMental HealthTreatment

Data Sources

Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Maine Department of Public Safety (DPS), Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT), Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) including reweighted 2009 data Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner National Survey on Substance Use and Health (NSDUH) Northern New England Poison Center (NNEPC) Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics (ODRVS) Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) Treatment Data System (TDS) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)

Recap from Previous Reports:Substances of concern: alcohol (high-risk

drinking), marijuana, and prescription drugs

Population of concern:18 to 25 year-olds

Notable consequences: alcohol-related crashes, hospitalizations, and poisonings

Treatment admissions for alcohol have been decreasing while synthetic opioids are increasing

Findings of InterestState Profile

Consumption

Alcohol Use: Youth

Source: YRBSS, 2001-2011

Past Month usage among Maine high school students has been steadily decreasing since 2001!

Alcohol Use: Youth

Past month binge drinking among high school students dropped from 19% in 2009 to 17% in 2011.

Source: MIYHS 2009, 2011

Alcohol Use: Adults

Source: BRFSS 2001-2010

Past month drinking among adults in Maine has remained relatively stable since 2001.

Alcohol Use: Adults

Heavy drinking among young adults has dropped substantially since 2008!


Marijuana Use: Youth

Source: YRBSS 2001- 2011

Marijuana past month usage among Maine High School students dropped from 2001 to 2005 and seems to have reached a plateau at 21%.

Marijuana Use: Adults

18-25 year olds are much more likely to use marijuana in the past month.

Marijuana usage among adults in Maine has remained fairly stable since 2002-03.

Most recent data shows slight uptick in usage among adults.

Source: NSDUH 2002-03 – 2008-09

Early Initiation of Substance Use:Alcohol

Source: YRBSS 2001-2011

Early initiation has been linked to riskier consumption patterns in adulthood

Proportion of youth starting to drink early has decreased since 2001

Early Initiation of Substance Use: Marijuana

The proportion of High School students who reported trying marijuana for the first time before the age of 13 decreased between the years of 2001 and 2011 from 12 % to 7 %


Prescription Drug Use: Youth


Past lifetime as well as past month misusage of prescription drugs among Maine High School students has decreased from 2009 to 2011

Prescription Drug Use: Adults

Misuse of pain relievers among adults has remained relatively stable since 2003

18-25 year olds reported the highest percentage (14%) for misusing pain relievers

Source: NSDUH 2003-04 to 2008-09

Cocaine Use: Youth


Lifetime Cocaine use among Maine High School Students has decreased from 10% in 2009 to 7% in 2011

Cocaine Use: (twelve and older)

Past year use of cocaine has remained relatively stable since 2003

18 to 25 year olds reported highest rate of past year cocaine use (8%)

Source: NSDUH 2003-04 to 2008-09

Inhalant Use: Youth


Past lifetime inhalant use among Maine High School students remained stable from 2001 to 2007

Reported inhalant use has decreased from 15% in 2009 to 11 % in 2011

Consequences

Pregnancy and Substance Use

Source: PRAMS, 2004-2010

Remained fairly stable over the past decade.

Almost 1 in 5 pregnant women reported smoking during their last trimester.

8% reported drinking in their last trimester.

Pregnancy and Substance Use

Source: TDS, 2007-2011

Since 2005, about 5% of women seeking treatment were pregnant (262)

52% sought treatment for synthetic opiates, increasing steadily since 2007

Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes

Source: MDOT, 2005-2010

Alcohol has been consistently involved in 5 percent of total motor vehicle crashes (not shown here)

In 2010, alcohol was involved in 45 out of 161 total fatal crashes (28%).

Alcohol Related Crashes by Age

Source: MDOT, 2007-2010

In 2010, 21 to 24 year olds had the highest alcohol related crash rates.

Overall, alcohol related crash rates appear to be trending downward across all age ranges.

Hospital Admissions: Inpatient

Source: MHDO 2006-2009

In 2009, alcohol was the primary substance associated with inpatient admissions related to substance use (686), followed by opiates (216)

Hospital Admissions: Outpatient

Outpatient hospital visits related to Opiates (including prescription narcotics, methadone, and heroin) have steadily been increasing since 2006

Overdose Deaths Due to Drugs

Source: Sorg, Marcella H. “Report from Maine, CEWG June 2011.” (2011).

*Deaths related to pharmaceutical or illicit overdose are not mutually exclusive.

Since 2001, total overdose deaths have been increasing

Overdose deaths due to pharmaceuticals (such as methadone, oxycodone, and benzodiazepines) have been rising dramatically since 1997

Contributing Factors

Youth Access to Alcohol


In 2011, two out of three Maine High school students reported it would easy for them to get alcohol.

Youth Access to Alcohol

One in three Maine High School students who consumed alcohol in the past month reported that someone had given it to them.


Youth Access to Drugs


Students who reported they thought it was easy to get marijuana were seven times more likely to use in the past month. (not depicted)

In 2011, 57% of high school students felt it would be easy to get marijuana.

Youth Access to Drugs

In 2011, almost one in four Maine High School students reported being sold offered, or given an illegal drug on school property

Increased from 21% in 2009 to 24% in 2011


Perceived Risk of Harm: Alcohol


High School students perceiving risk of regular alcohol use has decreased from 2009 to 2011

In 2011, two out of five High School students did not think regular alcohol use was harmful

Perceived Risk of Harm: Marijuana


High School students perceiving risk of regular marijuana use decreased from 61% in 2009 to 56% in 2011

Almost half of Maine High School students felt there was little to no risk of harm

Perceived Enforcement: Parents and Police


In 2011, 44% of Maine High School Students thought they would be caught by their parents for drinking (an increase since 2009)

Students who reported that a kid would be caught by the police for drinking decreased from 16% in 2009 to 15% in 2011

Perception of Adult Attitudes: Alcohol


In 2011, 86% of High School students reported that they thought their parents felt it was wrong for them to drink on a regular basis

Students who reported that adults in their community think it is wrong for youth to use alcohol increased from 73% in 2009, to 75% in 2011

Perception of Adult Attitudes: Marijuana

Students who reported their parents would feel it would be wrong for them to smoke marijuana decreased from 87% in 2009 to 84% in 2011

Students who thought adults in their community would feel it would be wrong for them to smoke marijuana decreased from 80% in 2009 to 77% in 2011


Mental Health, Suicide and Co-occuring Disorders

Mental Illness, Depression and Anxiety

Source: NSDUH 2008-09

In 2008-09, 35% of young adults (18 to 25) reported experiencing any mental illness in the past year, compared to 19% of adults ages 26 and older.

*Any mental illness is defined as having a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder, other than a substance use disorder, that met the criteria found the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

Depression: Adults


In 2010, more than 1 out 5 adults in Maine reported having ever been diagnosed with depression

17% of adults reported having ever been diagnosed with anxiety

Depression: Youth

In 2011, the proportion of high school students who reported feeling sad or helpless during the past year increased slightly, from 22% in 2009 to 23% in 2011


Mental Health and Alcohol Use


in 2011, 13% of high school students reported that they seriously considered suicide in the past year, 9% reported that they planned for it and 8% reported actually attempting suicide

in 2011, 15% of high school students who had consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days reported they had planned suicide and 12% reported that they attempted suicide in the past year

High school students who consumed alcohol in the past month were more than two times as likely to have planned or attempted suicide


Mental Health and Alcohol Use

Mental Health and Treatment

Source: TDS, 2007-2011

In 2011, more than half of all substance abuse treatment admissions also had a diagnosed mental health disorder

This proportion has increased by 7 percentage points since 2007

Treatment Admissions for Substance Abuse

Source: TDS, 2011 Source: TDS, 2011

Treatment Admissions by Substance: Primary

The overall number of Mainers seeking treatment has been declining since 2007, from 14,843 to 11,380 in 2011 (not depicted)

In 2011 there were 4,421 admissions for alcohol as the primary substance, followed by synthetic opioids (3,630) and marijuana (1,094)

Treatment Admissions by Substance: Secondary

Marijuana leads secondary admissions with 31%, followed closely by synthetic opioids at 28%, followed by alcohol (13%) and cocaine (10%)

Synthetic opioids make up the second largest proportions for both primary and secondary admissions

Conclusion

Alcohol•Alcohol is the most used substance in Maine•Overall decline among alcohol use (lifetime and 30 day use) among Mainers•Among high school students who had consumed alcohol, close to one-third reported starting before the age of 13•Young adults are the most likely age group to binge drink and to drink heavily •Alcohol was involved in 28% of fatal crashes in 2010 •21-24 year olds have the highest rates of alcohol related motor vehicle crashes and crash fatalities•Alcohol is the primary presenting factor in most substance abuse treatment admissions in Maine

ConclusionPrescription Drugs•7% of high school students had misused prescription drugs in the past month•14% of young adults ages 18-25 misused pain relievers within the past year•Prescription drug misuse continues to have a large impact on treatment and hospitalizations in Maine

Other illicit Drugs•The most commonly used illegal drug in Maine is marijuana•22% of high school students in Maine have used marijuana in the past 30 days •More than one-fifth of current High School users started using marijuana before the age of 13•26% of young adults (18-25) used marijuana in the past month, and15% think smoking marijuana once per month poses great risks•Overall, perception of harm and wrongness of Marijuana use has decreased

Conclusion

Mental Health •One-fifth of adults in Maine report having ever been diagnosed with depression•Young adults are more likely to experience any mental illness in the past year than older adults (one in three)•About one in ten high school students considered or planned for suicide in 2011•Over half of all substance abuse treatment admissions in 2011 also involved a mental health disorder

Questions/Comments?Timothy DiomedeSEOW Coordinator/Data AnalystOffice of Substance [email protected] (207) 287-2596

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/osa/data/cesn/index.htm

Documents

Substance Abuse Trends in Maine