SAMHSA Provides Latest Snapshot of Nation’s Drug Use, Mental Health

While the overall use of heroin has doubled since 2002, CDC data have shown that heroin-related deaths have increased over 600 percent to an average of 13,000 deaths per year, Elinore McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D., assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, said at the press conference. McCance-Katz also suggested that the increase in heroin laced with rapid-acting fentanyl might be to blame for the rise in deaths from heroin.

Heroin is not the only street drug causing a significant health crisis, noted Richard Baum, acting director of the Office of National Drug Control and Policy. Cocaine use has risen to historically high levels, with the number of people in 2016 who reported using it in the past year (1.9 million) being the highest since 2008; the number of people who tried it for the first time (1.1 million) is the highest since 2002. Baum suggested that an increasing supply of cocaine coming into the United States may be to blame for the uptick in use. According to Baum, Colombia’s cocaine production has tripled over the past decade.

“Even as we focus our attention on opioids, we need to start thinking about heading off this next potential epidemic,” Baum said.

For the first time since the NSDUH’s debut in 1990, severe mental illness (SMI) has become more common among young adults (aged 18 to 25) than older adults. In 2016, 5.9 percent of adults aged 18 to 25 had an SMI compared with 5.3 percent of adults aged 26 to 49 and 2.7 percent of adults aged 50 and up.

What’s more, only half of the young adults surveyed reported receiving treatment for their mental illness, said McCance-Katz. Without treatment, youth with SMI may be more likely to use illicit substances and report suicidal thoughts and actions, she noted. Between 2008 and 2016, the annual percentage of adults 18 to 25 who had serious thoughts of suicide rose from 6.8 to 8.8 percent.

“[This] report underscores the serious challenges we face with the opioid crisis and serious mental illness,” Price said. “The good news is that it is within our power to turn these trends around.”

Developing new strategies to address serious mental illness means embracing the concept of recovery in addition to prevention and intervention, said Paolo del Vecchio, M.S.W., director of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. That includes programs that help with education, employment, or housing as part of a treatment regimen. The press conference was chosen for early September in part to promote National Recovery Month, which celebrates individuals across the country who have achieved long-term recovery from mental illness and substance use disorders.

The press conference included testimonials from three former patients: Emmanuel Ford and his mother, Esther Ford, and Zachary Talbott. The Fords discussed their journey in overcoming multigenerational depression, neglect, and posttraumatic stress disorder to form a strong family bond. Emmanuel explained how his recovery experience encouraged him to become a certified mental health peer specialist who works with youth in the Washington, D.C., area. Talbott described his experience overcoming opioid addiction—beginning first with addressing his denial that he was an addict—to complete his social work master’s degree and start his own opioid treatment program.

Daryl Kade, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health and Statistics and Quality, which oversees the NSUDH, mentioned that as part of a greater emphasis on recovery, the NSDUH has received permission to include recovery questions in next year’s survey, and she is looking forward to reviewing that national data in 2018. ■