Drug Addiction in Washington

Widespread Substance Abuse in the Pacific Northwest

Despite consisting mostly of mountain ranges, rainforests, and national parks, Washington has a bad relationship with substance abuse. The state has one of the highest rates of teenagers and young people addicted to drugs in the nation, and an unusually high occurrence of methamphetamine abuse - as many as 30% of state admissions to drug addiction treatment in 2006 were admitted for meth abuse. Washington also has an active medical marijuana policy that is a significant contributor to non-medical marijuana use by young adults.

Not All Addiction Problems Center Around Urban Areas

Now an un-studied analysis would likely place blame on Seattle, known as one of the most liberal cities in the nation in regards to many things, including drug use. However, statistics do not bear witness to this. In almost every category, drug abuse and overdose hospitalizations in the city are very close to the national average, and are even below average in some respects. The greater Seattle area is also largely responsible for the state's very high median income of around $50,000 a year. So what makes drug abuse so popular in Washington State?

One factor that is played out in Northern areas not just nation-wide but internationally is severe weather. The state's cold weather, which is accompanied by extreme raininess or snowfall depending on the location, forces lots of people to be shut indoors, and studies have shown that mental health problems such as depression can be promoted by too much exposure to inclement weather. The only other place in America we can see this happen in larger effect, is Alaska.

One other shortcoming that can contribute in part to these problems is the location, availability, and education of addiction treatment. There is simply not enough demand in many areas for someone to open up a drug rehab facility in certain areas - but when there are many people suffering over a spread out region, that does not make their problem any less severe. This is a common roadblock when it comes to identifying and seeking resolutions for diverse drug problems. These isolated drug problems are also made more severe by lack of education. Many people believe that alcohol and prescription pill abuse is relatively harmless when, in fact, they are the two most dangerous drugs in America; they account for the vast majority of addictions and overdoses in the country today, and influence drug-related violent crime more than all other drugs.

Another chronic misunderstanding is how people think they can defeat addictions. The fact is that there is only a minority of people who can quit drugs when they want to. Yet most people who try to manage and quit their addiciton try do it alone. But tempting environments and unhelpful influences trip most people up and they go right back into abusing their drug of choice. That is why professional drug rehab is so important; it separates addicts from their enabling environments and surrounds them with people who want to help and know what patients are experiencing. Above all, intense and uniquely suited addiction treatment therapies and counseling are offered over the course of several months that will build the self-esteem and courage necessary to go back to being around the temptations of daily life without succumbing to them.

Washington cities with high drug abuse trends: Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Olympia, Everett, Kent, Renton, Bellevue, Puyallup, Yakima, Bellingham, Bothell, Auburn, and Lynnwood

Washington counties with statistically high substance abuse: King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Clark, Thurston, Kitsap, Yakima, Whatcom, Benton, Skagit, and Cowlitz

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