This chapter presents numbers of substance abuse treatment admissions aged 12 and older and admission rates from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) by Census division and State or jurisdiction for admissions in 2010, according to primary substance of abuse.

As noted previously, comparisons between and across divisions and States should be made with caution. There are many factors (e.g., facilities included, clients included, ability to track multi-service episodes, service type, and completeness and timeliness of reporting) that can affect comparability. See Appendix A for a full discussion.

Table 2.1 indicates the proportions of admissions in 2010 by service type according to Census division and State or jurisdiction. A State's mix of service types (e.g., outpatient, detoxification, rehabilitation/residential, opioid therapy) can have a significant effect on its admission rates. There is higher client turnover and therefore more admissions in short-stay services such as detoxification than in long-stay services such as outpatient or long-term rehabilitation/residential treatment. Admission rates for individual substances of abuse may be affected as well (e.g., detoxification is more closely associated with alcohol or heroin use than with use of other substances).¹

Table 2.2 presents the total number of treatment admissions aged 12 and older by primary substance of abuse, according to Census division and State or jurisdiction for 2010.

Table 2.3 presents the treatment admission rates per 100,000 population aged 12 and older by primary substance of abuse, according to Census division and State or jurisdiction for 2010.

• In 2010, the treatment admission rate was higher for primary alcohol abuse than for illicit drugs. The primary alcohol admission rate was 282 per 100,000 population (the rate for alcohol alone was 156 per 100,000 and the rate for alcohol with secondary drug abuse was 126 per 100,000). The highest rates for illicit drugs were for marijuana (127 per 100,000) and heroin (97 per 100,000).
• Treatment admission rates for 2010 were higher for primary alcohol abuse than for illicit drugs in each Census division. The most significant primary illicit drugs were:
  • Marijuana—West North Central, Middle Atlantic, East North Central, Pacific, South Atlantic, New England, Mountain, West South Central, and East South Central
  • Heroin—New England, Middle Atlantic, and East North Central
  • Opiates other than heroin—East South Central
  • Methamphetamine/amphetamines—Pacific
• Treatment admission rates for 2010 were higher for primary alcohol abuse than for any of the major illicit drugs in 44 of the 49 reporting States and jurisdictions. The exceptions where an illicit drug admission rate was higher than the alcohol admission rate was Massachusetts (heroin); Florida, Delaware, and Idaho (marijuana); and California (methamphetamine/amphetamines).
• In the 44 States or jurisdictions where admission rates for primary alcohol were higher than the rate for any illicit drug, the most frequently reported primary illicit drugs were:
  • Marijuana—Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
  • Heroin—Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island
  • Opiates other than heroin—Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia
  • Methamphetamine/amphetamines—Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah

Table 2.4 presents the 2010 treatment admission rate by primary substance, adjusted for age, gender, and race/ethnicity to the U.S. 2010 population by Census division and State or jurisdiction, for 2010. Adjustment is a way to make fairer comparisons when there are different admission rates among population subgroups and different proportions of the subgroups in each division, State, or jurisdiction. The adjusted rates are the rates that would have been seen if each division, State, or jurisdiction had the same distribution of subgroups as the U.S. 2010 population.

• Adjustment of the 2010 treatment admission rates for age, gender, and race/ethnicity did not change the relative ranking of alcohol and illicit drugs for either the United States as a whole or for any of the Census divisions.
• Adjustment of the 2010 treatment admission rates for age, gender, and race/ethnicity did not change the relative ranking of alcohol and illicit drugs for most States. For New Jersey, heroin replaced alcohol as the most common substance of abuse among treatment admissions, and for West Virginia, opiates other than heroin replaced alcohol as the most common substance of abuse among treatment admissions. For Utah, marijuana replaced methamphetamine/amphetamines as the most common illicit substance of abuse among treatment admissions.

¹ See: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). 2000 - 2010. National Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment Services, DASIS Series: S-61, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 12-4701, Rockville, MD; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2012, Table 2.7.

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