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Florida Drug Statistics and Facts

  • Six counties in Florida, accounted for more than half of the total approximated cost of underage drinking Palm Beach (7.26 percent), Broward (8.4 percent), Miami-Dade (15 percent), Orange (7.51 percent), Duval (6.7 percent) and Hillsborough (6.7 percent).
  • For quite time, Florida has been a point of entry for different drugs, shipping from Mexico and Cuba. Almost every common drug known today is used in Florida; consequently there are addictions to them too.
  • Other dangerous drugs like ketamine, LSD, GHB, and diverted pharmaceuticals that are available and abused in Florida, but to a limited extent than Heroin, Marijuana, Meth, Cocaine, and MDMA (Ecstasy).
  • In 2006 more than half (380 of 668 centers) were private nonprofit, and just over one-third (244 of 668) were private for-profit, in Florida.
  • Five people in Florida die each day as a direct result of prescription drug overdoses, including from Oxycodone (e.g. Oxycontin) and Hydrocodone (e.g. Vicodin).
  • Opiate-related mortality in Florida has risen sharply (from 869 deaths in 2000 to 3,155, in 2007), whereas Heroin-related deaths had decreased (276 deaths in 2000 versus 110, in 2007).
  • Deaths related to prescription painkillers Opioids (like Methadone, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone) among Broward County, Florida residents ages 12 to 65 and over have increased 14 percent in 2007, despite a 14 percent decline in the consumption rate over the past 2 years.
  • Deaths related to prescription Benzodiazepine use within Broward County high school students have increased 9 percent in 2007, despite a 33 percent decline in consumption rates.
  • Among Florida adolescents, both lifetime and past-30-day prevalence rates for prescription painkillers (8 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively) and depressants (6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively) were higher than for all other illegal drugs, except inhalants and Marijuana.
  • In the last 15 years, there has been a steady drop in the number of entries mentioning alcohol as the substance of abuse and raise in Opiates other than Heroin, in Florida.
  • Florida youth has higher rates of alcohol use than the national average.
  • The estimated cost of teenage drinking in Florida in 2007 was $3.073 billion (180 teenage deaths and 71,602 injuries and other events).
  • Most of students surveyed in Florida in 2008 (53.2 percent) have used alcohol on at least 1 occasion in their lifetimes, although current use is substantially lower. Almost 30 percent reported using alcohol in the past 30 days
  • In Florida, women ages, 11 to 18 were more likely than men to report past 30-day alcohol abuse (30.6 percent versus 29 percent) and lifetime use of alcohol (54.9 percent versus 51.5 percent). Males in the ages 11 to 18 were more likely to report binge drinking, which is defined, as having 5 or more alcoholic drinks in a row in the past two weeks (15.6 percent versus 14 percent).
  • In Florida in 2008, there were 48,948 substance abuse treatment entries, 7,945 for alcohol only, 5,773 for alcohol and a secondary drug, 6,015 for smoked Cocaine, 3,244 for Cocaine (other route), 15,154 for Marijuana, 1,119 for Heroin and 4,885 for Opiates.
  • The presence of prescription narcotics and Benzodiazepines (1,173 in 2004 versus 1,426 in 2007) and Cocaine (441 in 2004 versus 633 in 2007) found in deceased persons in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward rose while the presence of heroin (83 in 2004 versus 40 in 2007) declined.
  • Drug-related violence and the property crime are a common occurrence in South Florida as distributors especially street gang members defend their distribution territories and abusers seek money to support their addictions.
  • During 2003 to 2009, death rates increased for all substances except Heroin and Cocaine. The death rate for prescription drugs increased 84.2 percent, from 7.3 to 13.4 per 100,000 population. The greatest increase was observed in the death rate from Oxycodone (264.6 percent), followed by Alprazolam (233.8%) and Methadone (79.2 percent).
  • In 85.5 percent of all drug overdose deaths, at least 1 of the 7 drugs examined in this study was detected at a lethal concentration, in Florida. Report of drug-specific death rates revealed several trends for different drugs during 2003 to 2009.
  • Across the years for which The Treatment Episode Data Set data are available, Florida has seen a significant shift in the constellation of problems present at treatment entree. Alcohol-only admissions had declined from over 36% of all admissions in 1992, to just over 16% in 2006.