While the War on Drugs has proven to be a failure across demographics, the use of illegal drugs continues to be a problem in American society, whether it’s from a health perspective, law enforcement perspective, or judicial perspective.
Thirty years ago, the National Institute of Health wrote in an analysis, “Regardless of the priority that the public, political leaders, and the media attach to drug problems at particular points in time, drugs are unquestionably a significant social problem for the United States.” The same remains true today.
Personal financial site WalletHub recently compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia in three overall categories: 1) Drug Use & Addiction, 2) Law Enforcement and 3) Drug Health Issues & Rehab. They took into consideration data on overdoses, overdose-induced deaths, illicit drug use by minors and adults, drug arrests, prescription drug monitoring laws, maternity drug policies, and fourteen other metrics. [Full methodology]
So which states across America have the biggest drug problems? We take a look in this week’s Map Monday.
Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the tables below depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the worst conditions for that metric category.
Highest Drug Use by State
Overall Rank | State | Total Score | Drug Use & Addiction | Law Enforcement | Drug Health Issues & Rehab |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | West Virginia | 58.42 | 4 | 3 | 23 |
2 | District of Columbia | 57.24 | 1 | 29 | 7 |
3 | Arkansas | 54.02 | 14 | 4 | 9 |
4 | Missouri | 53.36 | 29 | 1 | 12 |
5 | New Mexico | 52.67 | 8 | 7 | 25 |
6 | Nevada | 52.41 | 9 | 37 | 1 |
7 | Colorado | 52.40 | 17 | 6 | 8 |
8 | Michigan | 52.09 | 13 | 19 | 4 |
9 | Oregon | 49.66 | 7 | 43 | 2 |
10 | Tennessee | 48.91 | 3 | 25 | 32 |
Lowest Drug Use by State
40 | Wisconsin | 35.34 | 42 | 10 | 46 |
41 | Alabama | 34.42 | 28 | 51 | 19 |
42 | Georgia | 34.18 | 38 | 36 | 26 |
43 | South Dakota | 33.87 | 49 | 11 | 28 |
44 | Virginia | 33.77 | 44 | 17 | 43 |
45 | Nebraska | 33.58 | 48 | 22 | 17 |
46 | North Dakota | 33.19 | 51 | 5 | 45 |
47 | Iowa | 32.81 | 43 | 33 | 24 |
48 | Idaho | 30.30 | 47 | 31 | 29 |
49 | Utah | 28.57 | 45 | 34 | 41 |
50 | Hawaii | 25.20 | 39 | 45 | 51 |
51 | Minnesota | 22.93 | 50 | 39 | 49 |
Drug Abuse & Prevention in Georgia (1=Biggest Problem; 25=Avg.)
- 50th – Share of Teenagers Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
- 43rd – Share of Adults Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
- 42nd – Drug Overdose Deaths per Capita
- 34th – Drug Arrests per Capita
- 51st – Share of Adults Who Couldn’t Get Treatment for Illicit Drug Use in the Past Year