The State of Florida released the 2007 Youth Substance Abuse Survey yesterday. The numbers say that drug use is down - fewer kids are smoking pot, drinking and taking prescription drugs. If this is the case then the population of drug rehabs out there today will decline. However, the statistics in this survey seem to conflict with other information we read about every day. Florida is called the pill state: You don’t get a nickname like that for nothing, and I suspect that there will be plenty of need for drug rehab for some time to come.

One of the first things I did when I opened the survey results was see how many students participated. Of approximately 850,000 Florida middle school students (grades 5-8), 4,643 completed the survey. The number of high school students is about the same, and 3,748 completed the survey. Here are some of the results:

Binge drinking by 6th graders is at 9.9%; binge drinking by high school seniors 30%. The progression from 6th grade through high school is steady – kids binge drink more as they get older. Chances are two out of three of the younger ones will develop a long-term alcohol problem and will need drug rehab.

Inhalant use goes from 4.7% for 6th graders - they can’t get their hands on drugs and alcohol as easily as older kids - to 1% for high school seniors. They’ve moved on to other drugs.

Marijuana use grows from 1.3% for 6th graders to 20% for high school seniors.

Prescription drug use by high school seniors, according to the survey, is in the 4% range. This number is suspiciously low. Drug detox and drug rehab centers are seeing at least as many admissions for prescription drugs as streets drugs, so that doesn’t make much sense. Prescription stimulant abuse at 2% of students is also too low. There are too many surveys with much higher numbers. There were also articles recently in various Florida papers with numbers more in the 20% range for Ritalin and Adderall abuse. For college students that number jumps to about 30%, but I doubt 2% is correct. Many of those college students are also likely to need drugs rehab.

Prescription pain killers (OxyContin and Vicodin) – which are the number one prescription drugs abused in many states and are a major reason people go to drug rehab centers, the ER, and the morgue – are also used by more than 4% of students according the survey. That’s more than likely in the 15% range as well.

I am going to keep reading the survey, but I think the need for drug detox and drug rehab programs will continue to grow.

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