These include major depressive episodes, suicidal ideation and attempts, mental illness, and access to and use of mental health care. Schedule V drugs have little-to-no risk of dependence or abuse. These substances are not typically available over-the-counter. These drugs have a relatively low potential for dependence and abuse.

1. For more information, see the Tobacco, Nicotine and E-Cigarettes Research Report.
2. Since 1975 the MTF survey has measured drug and alcohol use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide.
3. Mental illness and substance abuse (comorbidity) is relatively common among military veterans.
4. Finally, changes in the methodology of the survey over time has limited the comparability of the estimates across years.
5. Additionally, questionnaire revisions in 2015 mean that many variables are not comparable between 2015 data and before.
6. The front page of DrugAbuseStatistics.org features the most noteworthy drug abuse data, including overdose deaths, demographics, mental health, drug abuse treatment programs, and the cost of the War on Drugs.

Drug-Related Deaths

Although NSDUH is useful for many purposes, it has certain limitations. First, the data are based on self-reports of drug use, and their value depends on respondents’ truthfulness and memory. NSDUH covers the general civilian population aged 12 and older in the United States. Active-duty military, residents of institutions, and people who are homeless but not in shelters are not included in the survey population. To ensure that individual respondents cannot be identified from their responses, NSDUH public-use files (PUFs) twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous have been treated with a number of disclosure-avoidance methods. Also to protect respondent privacy, some variables are not available, including geographic variables.

Several factors related to death investigation and reporting may affect measurement of death rates involving specific drugs. At autopsy, the substances tested for and the circumstances under which the toxicology tests are performed vary by jurisdiction. This variability is more likely to affect substance-specific death rates than the overall drug overdose death rate.

MDMA is an abbreviation of the scientific name 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine. A powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to what is a roofi South America. The main psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Accidental drug overdose is a leading cause of death among persons under the age of 45. A wide variety of herbal mixtures containing man-made cannabinoid chemicals related to THC in marijuana but often much stronger and more dangerous. Sometimes misleadingly called “synthetic marijuana” and marketed as a “natural,” “safe,” legal alternative to marijuana. For more information, see the Synthetic Cannabinoids DrugFacts.

Data source and methods

A dissociative drug (Salvia divinorum) that is an herb in the mint family native to southern Mexico. A benzodiazepine chemically similar to prescription sedatives such as Valium® and Xanax® that may be misused for its psychotropic effects. Rohypnol has been used to commit sexual assaults because of its strong sedation effects.

HHS, SAMHSA Release 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data

For more information, see our report on drug-related crime statistics. Nearly 70% of law enforcement agencies in the western and midwestern areas of the United States view methamphetamine and fentanyl as the greatest threats to their populations. For more information about fentanyl, see our report on fentanyl abuse. Man-made substances used to treat conditions caused by low levels of steroid hormones in the body and misused to enhance athletic and sexual performance and physical appearance. For more information, see Steroids and Other Appearance and Performance Enhancing Drugs (APEDs).

These drugs also have a high potential for abuse; this may or may not be due to addictive properties. Drugs that are considered “gateway drugs” (that is, substances that are often precursors to abuse covert narcissist and drugs of other, possibly more dangerous drugs) or deemed a public health risk may also be listed under Schedule I. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), released the results of the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The report shows how people living in the United States reported about their experience with mental health, substance use, and treatment related behaviors in 2022. The report is accompanied by a high-level brief that includes infographics.