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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Drug and Alcohol Use

Goal: Reduce misuse of drugs and alcohol.

Five people sit together in a circle, and two of them place their hands on another's shoulders to comfort her.

More than 20 million adults and adolescents in the United States have had a substance use disorder in the past year.1 Healthy People 2030 focuses on preventing drug and alcohol misuse and helping people with substance use disorders get the treatment they need.

Substance use disorders can involve illicit drugs, prescription drugs, or alcohol. Opioid use disorders have become especially problematic in recent years. Substance use disorders are linked to many health problems, and overdoses can lead to emergency department visits and deaths.

Effective treatments for substance use disorders are available, but very few people get the treatment they need. Strategies to prevent substance use — especially in adolescents — and help people get treatment can reduce drug and alcohol misuse, related health problems, and deaths.

Objective Status

  • 5 Target met or exceeded
  • 2 Improving
  • 12 Little or no detectable change
  • 10 Getting worse
  • 2 Baseline only
  • 6 Developmental
  • 1 Research

Learn more about objective types

Related Objectives

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data.

Drug and Alcohol Use — General

Reduce the proportion of people who used heroin in the past year — SU‑16
Target met or exceeded
Reduce the proportion of people who started using heroin in the past year — SU‑17
Target met or exceeded
Reduce the proportion of people aged 21 years and over who engaged in binge drinking in the past month — SU‑10
LHI label
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people who misused prescription drugs in the past year — SU‑12
Little or no detectable change
Reduce cirrhosis deaths — SU‑02
Getting worse
Reduce drug overdose deaths — SU‑03
LHI label
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of adults who used drugs in the past month — SU‑07
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of adults who use marijuana daily or almost daily — SU‑08
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of motor vehicle crash deaths that involve a drunk driver — SU‑11
Getting worse

Addiction

Reduce the proportion of people who had opioid use disorder in the past year — SU‑18
Improving
Increase the proportion of people with a substance use disorder who got treatment in the past year — SU‑01
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people who had alcohol use disorder in the past year — SU‑13
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people who had marijuana use disorder in the past year — SU‑14
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people who had drug use disorder in the past year — SU‑15
Little or no detectable change
Increase the number of admissions to substance use treatment for injection drug use — SU‑D01
Developmental
Increase the proportion of people who get a referral for substance use treatment after an emergency department visit — SU‑D02
Developmental
Increase the rate of people with an opioid use disorder getting medications for addiction treatment — SU‑D03
Developmental

Adolescents

Reduce the proportion of adolescents who drank alcohol in the past month — SU‑04
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people under 21 years who engaged in binge drinking in the past month — SU‑09
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of adolescents who used drugs in the past month — SU‑05
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of adolescents who used marijuana in the past month — SU‑06
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who think substance abuse is risky — SU‑R01
Research

Chronic Pain

Reduce the proportion of prescription pain reliever misuse initiation in the past year — SU‑20
Target met or exceeded
Reduce the proportion of people who misused a prescription pain reliever in the past year — SU‑19
Little or no detectable change

Hospital and Emergency Services

Reduce emergency department visits related to nonmedical use of prescription opioids — MPS‑02
Target met or exceeded
Reduce the rate of opioid-related emergency department visits — SU‑D04
Developmental

Infectious Disease

Reduce the rate of acute hepatitis C — IID‑12
Getting worse

Injury Prevention

Reduce overdose deaths involving heroin — IVP‑23
Target met or exceeded
Reduce overdose deaths involving natural and semisynthetic opioids — IVP‑21
Improving
Reduce overdose deaths involving methadone — IVP‑24
Little or no detectable change
Reduce overdose deaths involving opioids — IVP‑20
Getting worse
Reduce overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone — IVP‑22
Getting worse

LGBT

Reduce the proportion of lesbian, gay, or bisexual high school students who have used illicit drugs — LGBT‑07
Baseline only
Reduce the proportion of transgender high school students who have used illicit drugs — LGBT‑D03
Developmental

Mental Health and Mental Disorders

Increase the proportion of people with substance use and mental health disorders who get treatment for both — MHMD‑07
Baseline only

Pregnancy and Childbirth

Increase abstinence from alcohol among pregnant women — MICH‑09
Little or no detectable change
Increase abstinence from illicit drugs among pregnant women — MICH‑11
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of women who use illicit opioids during pregnancy — MICH‑D02
Developmental

Other topics you may be interested in

References

1.

Lipari, R.N., & Van Horn, S.L. (2017). Trends in Substance Use Disorders Among Adults Aged 18 or Older. The CBHSQ Report. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28792721