Replies

And....maybe not.

Overall, Colorado’s use of alcohol and illicit drugs is much higher than the national average. Charles Smith, the Director of the Behavioral Health Division of the State Department of Human Services, said, “It’s always worrisome when we look at Colorado and other mountain states for substance abuse and serious mental illness.”

According to a 2011 federal survey, 4% of the United States population 12 and older admitted to using any illicit drug – in Colorado, that rate was 11.3%. For further comparison, Iowa’s rate was 5.3%.

4.3% of adult Coloradans seriously considered suicide within the past year, compared to 3.7% of all US adults.

AND 'scripts

The problem is so widespread that recently, Governor John Hickenlooper recently played an active role in launching “Take Meds Seriously”, a public awareness campaign hoping to address prescription medicine abuse.

On average, 35 Coloradans die every month from unintentional prescription drug overdoses

Colorado is #12 in the country for the abuse/misuse of prescription medications

224,000 people in Colorado misuse prescription medications every year

According to the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, deaths caused by prescription medication overdoses quadrupled 2000-2011.

2011-2013, 7600 Coloradans were seen in emergency rooms every year because of drug overdoses

86% were because of prescription painkillers

In Colorado, 18-25-year-olds overdose on prescription painkillers twice as often as the rest of the population

4 out of 10 Colorado adults admit to misusing medicine, primarily painkillers

One-third of those do so for recreational purposes Approximately one-third of Colorado citizens admit to using someone else’s prescription

In 2004, only 6% total treatment admissions were for prescription opioids, but by 2013, that percentage had risen to 7.3%.

AND

Robert Vaulk, Coordinator of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, says, “If you start out early, you gradually get to use more and more. And you get more hard-core over years and years. Then you move away from prescription drugs because they’re so hard to get after a while. Then you move to stuff like heroin.”

Among 18-24-year-old Coloradans, there has been a 27% increase in heroin abuse since 2008. In the last four years, heroin deaths in Colorado have tripled. In 2014, there were 151 fatalities due to an overdose of heroin. In 2000, there were only 37. A generation ago, in 1993, 1643 people were admitted to state drug treatment programs for heroin abuse. By 2013, that number had almost tripled, to 4556. In Colorado’s northeast corner, the increase during the same period was more than sixteen-fold, 32 to 524. Focusing on Denver – in 2014, heroin killed more individuals than any other illicit drug.

Finally

Lest anyone think this is made of whole cloth The link that so many here demand as 'proof'- so, here they are.

http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/organization/workgroups-interest-groups-consortia/community-epidemiology-work-group-cewg/meeting-reports/highlights-summaries-january-2014-4

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/chart-colorado-among-states-growing-heroin-prescription-drug-abuse-problem

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27212493/marijuana-use-increases-colorado-according-new-federal-survey

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/06/29/alcohol-responsible-for-1-in-7-deaths-among-co-adults/11699461/

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11630146

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/meth-use-colorado-has-police-and-outreach-groups-scrambling

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/03/25/spike-in-heroin-overdoses-prompts-a-closer-look-at-antidote/

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27590433/hickenlooper-effort-targets-prescription-drug-overdoses-colorado

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/after-5-months-of-sales-colorado-sees-the-downside-of-a-legal-high.html?referer=

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/04/05/a-look-at-heroin-abuse-in-colorado/

Please have a sober weekend.