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A Safer Society

grade:

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency for the opioid crisis. During that year, more than 47,000 people died of an overdose due to heroin, prescription opioids, or synthetic opioids in the United States. Overall, Nevada received a C grade for opioid overdose death rates, although the state ranked 44th in the country for natural/semisynthetic opioid overdose deaths, a category that includes most prescription opioids. Substance abuse leads to many problems for individuals and communities, including higher rates of chronic illness, lost productivity and premature death. Addressing the prevalence of drug and alcohol use, especially among youth, is important for the future health of our state.

Substance Abuse: Substance Indicators Year Current Value vs. prior period 2020 Target Rank Grade
Note – All death rate statistics are per 100,000 residents

Nevada
grade:

  • Worst Performer
  • Best Performer

Sources

  • Excessive Drinking Percentage – County Health Rankings, http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/
  • Adult Smoking Percentage – Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Sortable Risk Factors and Health Indicators
  • Death Rate Impaired Driving Accidents – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Drunk Driving State Data and Maps
  • Death Rate Drug Overdose – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC WONDER Online Database
  • Marijuana Use in the Past Year – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Cocaine Use in the Past Year – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Heroin Use in the Past Year – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Youth with Alcohol Use Disorder (Ages 12-17) – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Youth with Illicit Drug Use Disorder (Ages 12-17) – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Adults with Illicit Drug Use Disorder – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Youth with Any Substance Use Disorder (Ages 12-17) – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health
  • Adults with any Substance Use Disorder – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health

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Footnotes

  • Overdose death rates reported for specific drugs or drug classes represent the rate at which that drug was listed as a contributing cause of death as part of an overdose. It is possible for overdoses to involve multiple types of drugs, therefore the rates for specific drug groups may not sum to the total overdose rates.
  • The psychostimulant drug class includes methamphetamine and similar drugs. It excludes cocaine and crack cocaine.
  • Natural and semisynthetic opioids include most medical-use or prescription opioids such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, etc.
  • Synthetic opioids include drugs such as fentanyl and tramadol.
  • The level of specificity associated with this data leads to many states reporting N/A values for numerous years. This occurs as a result of low incident counts that do not allow the CDC to issue a reliable death rate for the specific drug.

2020 Target Methodology

The 2020 targets are based on the methodology used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020 initiative. In most cases the targets are calculated as a 10 percent improvement over the U.S. average from a base year, typically 2007-2008. In cases where national data from certain sources was not available or reliable, Nevada data was used as the baseline. For more information on Healthy People 2020 and the target-setting methodology, visit www.healthypeople.gov.