Drug addiction is a daily reality for many thousands of individuals in the state of Tennessee, with an approximated 9 percent of Tennessee residents reporting past-month use of illicit drugs. The problem covers a very large spectrum of issues and impacts many different age groups and backgrounds. Tennessee is not only in the highest quintile of States for illicit drug dependence and abuse in the past year in people 12 and older, but in all age groups (including youth) for needing but not receiving treatment for illicit drug use. This is where drug treatment and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Tennessee can step in to help, and individuals having difficulties with addiction can receive the benefits of a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Tennessee.
Currently, prescription drug abuse is one of the worst drug problems that the state of Tennessee is faced with. This is an issue in most states in the country, but the problem is particularly bad in the state of Tennessee. In fact, Tennessee is in the top ten of states for past-year illicit use of pain relievers among residents 12 and older, as well as illicit use of pain relievers among young adults. Even though prescription pain relievers are designed for people who are struggling with legitimate acute and chronic pain, Tennessee citizens are using these powerful narcotic drugs recreationally to feel high. Not only is this a problem in terms of abuse and addiction, but Tennessee residents are dying because of this type of abuse.
One of the benefits of drug and alcohol rehab centers in Tennessee is that individuals can forego the consequence of losing their lives to prescription drug addiction, and choose to seek help and receive effective treatment for their issue. For example, instead of acquiring the help they needed for addiction, 301 individuals died in the state of Tennessee in 2009 from prescription drug overdoses. Those who died had an average of four different kinds of drugs or abusive substances in their systems at the time of death. Of those who died of prescription drug overdose in Tennessee in 2009, an approximated 95% had at least one indicator of substance abuse. The majority of these deaths, 75% to be exact, were unintended deaths and not suicides. So these individuals could have benefitted from attending a drug rehab and alcohol rehabilitation program in Tennessee, and gotten the treatment they needed instead of losing their lives. But instead, over two times as many individuals died from overdosing on prescription drugs than those who died from overdose on illicit street drugs.
Pregnant mothers specifically can benefit from receiving treatment at a drug treatment and alcohol rehabilitation program in Tennessee. Unfortunately, drug and alcohol abuse is an issue that many pregnant mothers in the state struggle with. Statistics reveal that pregnant women in Tennessee have the highest rate of alcohol and illicit drug use and the second highest rate of tobacco use in the entire nation. A survey which screened over 7,000 pregnant mothers in Tennessee found that a quarter of them were actively smoking cigarettes, 26% were consuming alcohol, and over 10% were smoking marijuana. Even more tragic, is that over 200 of these women were actively abusing illicit drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and opiates. Overall, over 36% of the pregnant women screened in Tennessee tested positive for substance use, and 44% of the pregnant women tested positive for more than one substance.
Tennessee is also confronted with a really serious problem of substance abuse among young people. For a state that ranks near the worst for high school graduation rates, youth specifically can receive the rewards of attending a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Tennessee. Specifically, rates of prescription drug abuse, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine abuse as well as binge drinking among young people are on the rise in Tennessee and at a much higher rate than teen drug use nationally. Prescription drug abuse is of particular concern, where local law enforcement officials reported an increase of pill parties where youth congregate and take part in an activity also known as "pharming." At these parties, teens will bring with them whatever medications they've stolen and dump them in a bowl, which they randomly select from for consumption to get high. Prescription drug use is about as common as marijuana use among teens in Tennessee, and teens are especially fond of prescription pain killers which create a high comparable to heroin and other opiates. Teens in Tennessee are often under the impression that these potent prescription narcotics are not harmful because they're prescribed by a physician, not recognizing they are putting their health in serious danger. Because of the extent of this issue in the state, several drug treatment and alcohol rehab facilities have emerged in Tennessee focused at treating teen drug addiction.
Alcohol abuse is of particular concern among all age groups in the state of Tennessee, and residents who abuse alcohol can benefit from the several drug and alcohol treatment facilities which are available in Tennessee. To highlight this problem, over 17% of residents who were surveyed in 2009 admitted to binge drinking in the past 30 days. This obviously leads to several effects, particularly when inebriated Tennessee citizens drive under the influence. In 2009, police officers document that there were 15,234 arrests made in the state for driving under the influence of alcohol. In fact, a recent survey discovered that 14% of Tennesseens reported having driven after drinking in the past 60 days. As a consequence, these citizens decision to drive while under the influence of alcohol claimed 68 lives on the roads of the state in 2009.
All citizens of Tennessee benefit from the drug treatment and alcohol rehabilitation facilities available in Tennessee, by taking advantage of the several treatment options offered in the state. There are several non-profit organizations in the state which treat addiction on both an out-patient and residential treatment basis, as well as a wide variety of private drug rehab and alcohol treatment facilities, many of which are specifically tailored to handle all types of addiction. Individuals who want to get help can take advantage of the numerous drug rehab and alcohol treatment centers in Tennessee to recover from addiction and become fully rehabilitated.