A new federal government report finds that California leads the country in treatment admissions for marijuana addiction. The report, from the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, also found that across the country, admissions for marijuana addiction increased 31 percent in the ten year period from 1998 to 2008. During this same time period, admissions for treatment for
alcohol, heroin and cocaine addiction all dropped.
New York was the state in the country with the highest admissions - 48,853 - for marijuana addiction. But California saw a 117 percent increase in its admissions numbers for marijuana addiction - growing from 52 admissions per 100,000 people in 1998 to 113 per 100,000 people in 2008.
"This is a state that has people that use marijuana, both medically and nonmedically," said Suzi Rupp, spokeswoman for the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
California has allowed its citizens to cultivate marijuana for personal medicinal use for the past fifteen years. Despite these statistics, alcohol is still the most frequently abused substance.
Alcohol addiction counts for more than 40 percent of the almost 1.9 million admissions to detoxifications centers and
addiction treatment centers in the United States in 2008.
Prescription drug abuse continues to be an increasingly serious public health and social problem. According to the report, in 1998, drug treatment centers had only 19,870 admissions for admissions for addiction to prescription drugs. Ten years later, in 2008, there were 111,251 admissions to treatment centers for prescription drug addiction.
