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SAMHSA News Room
Contact Media Services: (240) 276-2130

SAMHSA Advisory

Date: 1/5/2007
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130

New Report Provides Snapshot of Substance Use Within 15 Largest U.S Metropolitan Areas

The two U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest rates of past month illicit drug use are San Francisco (12.7 percent) and Detroit (9.5 percent) while the national average was 8.1 percent, says a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Chicago (25.7 percent) and Houston (25.6 percent) had higher rates of binge drinking than the national average (22.7 percent), and Detroit was the only metropolitan statistical area with a past month cigarette use rate that was higher than the national average (25.3 percent).

The NSDUH Report: Substance Use in the 15 Largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 2002-2005 compares estimates for illicit drug use, binge alcohol use, and cigarette use for the nation as a whole with the same behaviors in the 15 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

An MSA is a core area containing a large population nucleus together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. Approximately one third of the U.S. population lived in the 15 largest MSAs in 2005.

“Previous research has shown that rates of substance use vary across states and within areas within states,” said Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., SAMHSA Acting Deputy Administrator. “This new report, with bar graphs showing rates of use for each substance, provides a very clear snapshot of which of the 15 major metropolitan areas have serious problems and which have rates comparable to or less than the national averages.”

All estimates of substance use in the report are annual averages based on combined data from the 2002 to 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Illicit drugs refer to marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin, or prescription-type drugs used nonmedically. Binge alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least one day in the past 30 days.

MSAs with rates of illicit drug use that were lower than the national average include Houston (6.2 percent), Dallas (6.5 percent), and Washington, DC (6.5 percent). Rates of binge drinking were lower than the national average in the Los Angeles (18.6 percent) Riverside/San Bernardino (19 percent), Washington, DC (19 percent), and New York (21.3 percent) MSAs. The Los Angeles (17.9 percent), San Francisco (17.9 percent), Riverside/San Bernardino (19.2 percent), Washington, DC (19.8 percent), Boston (20.8 percent), Seattle (21.4 percent), Miami (22 percent), and New York (22.5 percent) MSAs all had lower rates of past month cigarette use than the nation as a whole.

The complete report is available online at http://oas.samhsa.gov

The NSDUH Report is published periodically by the Office of Applied Studies. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is an annual survey sponsored by SAMHSA. The survey collects data by administering questionnaires to a representative sample of the population through face-to-face interviews at their place of residence.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.


Page Last Updated: 1/4/2007