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Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center |
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The ADAM program discussed in
this issue of the Forum is one
of several national projects collecting data on the extent of
drug use. It is also one of the few instruments regularly administered
in Alaska under either state or federal auspices that provides
any localized information on drug use.
In addition to ADAM, the federal
government has three other major drug use indicators which provide
data on a national basis: the National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse (NHSDA), the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) and Monitoring
the Future.
The NHSDA is administered by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has been conducted
since 1971, with a significant redesign in 1999. Researchers
conduct interviews with a national probability sample of persons
aged twelve and over on past and current use of a wide range
of licit and illicit substances. The NHSDA research design includes
Alaska in its sampling. Table 1 shows results from the survey
for 1999 and 2000.
Unlike the NHSDA and ADAM, the
other two national data collection efforts do not sample Alaska,
although their results still may have implications for the state.
DAWN assembles data semi-annually from emergency rooms on deaths
from drug abuse and emergency room treatment related to drug
abuse. Monitoring the Future, which is sponsored by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, surveys high school students on the
availability and use of drugs and attitudes toward drug use.
There seems to be no continuing
in-state measurement of illicit drug use among the Alaska population,
although a number of state agencies have occasionally assembled
data which contribute to the picture of drug use as a whole.
In particular, in 2002, the Alaska Division of Alcohol and Substance
Abuse and the Division of Public Health released the results
of a state needs assessment study conducted by the North Charles
Research and Planning Group of Cambridge, MA. This study focused
on determining the substance abuse treatment needs of the state’s
population. It estimated that nearly 40,000 people may need treatment
of some kind for substance abuse. It also found—as have
many other studies—that the substance most widely abused
in Alaska is alcohol.
Another statewide measurement,
the Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered to high school students
by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development and
the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services assesses
health-threatening attitudes and behaviors, including involvement
with drugs and alcohol. The survey is part of a national effort
conducted since 1990 by the Centers for Disease Control. Because
its administration in Alaska has been inconsistent, with some
districts—including the large Anchorage School District—not
participating at various times, the results have not been comparable
from year to year. The 2003 survey is currently underway.
As with much other research, an
obstacle to gathering comprehensive data on the extent of drug
and alcohol use in the state is the fact that pertinent data
lie with many diverse agencies. In general, the data bases of
the agencies do not interface with each other, making the assembly
of information more laborious and the design of research more
problematic.