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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Drug, alcohol use up in Washington, agency finds

Associated Press

SEATTLE – Abuse of drugs and alcohol is on the rise in Washington state, including one of the highest rates of non-medical use of prescription pain relievers in the nation, according to the state Department of Social and Health Services.

In the agency’s 16th annual report on drug and alcohol abuse trends, the good news is that smoking and methamphetamine abuse are on the decline.

Washington state ranks sixth among the states in non-medical use of pain relievers by people 12 and older, after Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. The prescription pain relievers being abused are mostly opiates.

Binge drinking and consistent heavy drinking have also gone up over the past two years, with adult heavy drinking rates at their highest level this decade, the report said.

Heavy drinking by adults has risen dramatically in the state since 2004, while the national average has remained steady. In Washington, heavy drinking has increased from a rate of under 5 percent of the over-18 population in 2004 to 6.1 percent in 2007.

Problem drinking among youth is also a growing problem: Almost one-fifth of 10th and 12th graders reported being drunk or high at school in the past year.

Smoking rates and methamphetamine use are two of the few bright spots in the 2008 abuse report.

Smoking among adults and teens, both men and women, is down. Lung cancer death rates are also declining. In all categories, Washington smoking rates are lower than the national average.

Methamphetamine use was among state officials’ biggest worries a few years ago and now they consider it one of their biggest successes.

Although deaths related to methamphetamine use have risen in the Seattle-King County area, the number of reported methamphetamine laboratories and dump sites in Washington state has fallen, as has the number of people entering treatment for using the drug.

“This is one we seem to have gotten our collective heads around and have done a good job,” said David Albert, author of the report.

At the same time, abuse of prescription opiates is a big problem that appears to be growing, Albert said.

The results of a new healthy youth survey come out in March, and Albert said he expects that report will show prescription opiate abuse continuing to increase among young people.

And the biggest drug problem in the state involves a legal drug: alcohol.

“It still needs to be recognized that by far the biggest drug problem in the state is alcohol,” Albert said.