North Dakota Drug Statistics and Facts

• In North Dakota, almost 1 in 6 high school students have taken a prescription drug without a doctors prescription, according to a Comprehensive Report (2009-2011).
• Meth is the most serious drug threat to North Dakota and is the drug-related investigative precedence for state, federal, and local law enforcement officials.
• Treatment admissions to publicly funded centers for methamphetamine abuse, in North Dakota, from 1994 through 1999 surpassed admissions for abuse of any other illicit drug except Marijuana.
• According to the Substance Abuse Treatment Episode Data Set, 2,478 people entered treatment for both drug and alcohol addiction treatment in 2010. 61.5 percent of that number were males and 38.5 percent were females.
• Meth is easily available, and its availability is increasing throughout the state of North Dakota. Law enforcement officials seized more Meth statewide in 1999 than they seized during the past 4 years combined.
• An estimated 6 percent of North Dakota residents were past-month users of illegal drugs; the national average was 8 percent.
• High purity Meth produced in small quantities in North Dakota is also of significant concern. The number of Meth lab seizures has increased since 1998.
• In North Dakota, nearly 6 percent of middle school students had their 1st drink of alcohol at 8 years of age or younger.
• According to a Comprehensive Report 2009 to 2011, in North Dakota, 1 out of 4 high school students had their 1st drink of alcohol between the ages of 13 and 14.
• North Dakota ranks number one in the nation for binge drinking, ages 18 to 25 and 26 older.
• According to the Treatment Episode Data Set, (2009-2011), 11 percent of all substance abuse evaluations referred to treatment in North Dakota, involved prescription drug abuse.
• According to North Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2011 1 in 6 high school students (16.2 percent) reported taking prescription drugs without a doctors prescription.
• Across the last 15 years of data reporting, in North Dakota, there has been a steady drop in the number of admissions mentioning alcohol as the main substance of abuse, and increases in the mention of both Methamphetamine and Marijuana.
• In North Dakota, 1 out of 5 high school students start using Marijuana between 13 and 16 years of age.
• In 2010, 871 people entered treatment, in North Dakota, for alcohol only treatment with an additional 562 people who suffered from alcohol abuse combined with a secondary drug.
• There were 696 people who went to alcohol and drug rehabs for Marijuana addiction, in North Dakota 65.9 percent were male, and 33.6 percent were female. The largest age group of persons who went to treatment for this addiction was 12 to 17 year olds.
• Marijuana is the most often cited drug among main drug treatment admissions in North Dakota.
• Drug abuse remains a problem in North Dakota. The 1999 Treatment Episode Data Set shows that annual treatment admissions to publicly, funded centers for alcohol and/or drug abuse in North Dakota increased overall from 2,409 in 1994 to 2,659 in 1998 and then declined to 2,108 in 1999.
• In North Dakota, 145 people went to substance abuse treatment for amphetamines in 2010. 44.1 percent were male, and 55.9 percent were female while the largest group of persons admitted was between 21 to 25 years old.
• In 2007, as a direct consequence of drug use, 37 individuals died in North Dakota. This is compared to the number of individuals in North Dakota who died from car accidents (115) and firearm (57) incidents in the same year.