USERS POSTPONE
TREATMENT FOR 15 YEARS
Length of Time from First Use to Adult Treatment Admission.
According to a study conducted by SAMHSA1,
adults on average wait 15 years between the time they first use drugs and the time they are admitted for treatment.
In 2010, among the nearly 670,000 adults admitted for substance abuse treatment for the first time “an average of 15.6 years had elapsed since the first time they started using the substance they were primarily being treated for.”
On average men (16.5 year average) are waiting longer to seek treatment than women (13.8 year average). Alcohol had the longest lag between first time usage and treatment of 20.2 years, while prescription drugs had the shortest average time of 7.8 years.
Unfortunately, waiting several years to seek treatment can have devastating results on an individual’s physical health and overall well-being.
After several years of usage a person can be at a higher risk of suffering irreversible damage, than if they had sought out early treatment.
This highlights the importance taking preventative measures and promoting substance abuse awareness.
Length of Time from First Use to Adult Treatment Admission
In Brief
Among adult first-time treatment admissions, an average of 15.6 years elapsed between first use of the primary substance of abuse and treatment entry
The length of time between first use and treatment entry was longer for males than for females (16.5 vs. 13.8 years), and ranged from 13.3 years among Asian or Pacific Islander admissions to 17.4 years among American Indian/Alaska Native admissions
Non-Hispanic Black admissions had a longer length of time between first use and treatment entry than other race/ethnicities for primary cocaine abuse (17.0 vs. 14.5 years or less) and primary heroin abuse (21.1 vs. 15.2 years or less)
Male admissions had a longer time between first use and treatment entry than female admissions for primary cocaine abuse (15.7 vs. 12.6 years), primary heroin abuse (13.4 vs. 10.0 years), and stimulants (13.0 vs. 10.6 years)
To reduce the negative consequences of substance abuse, it is important for individuals who need treatment to receive services as soon as possible. However, the length of time between first use of a substance to treatment entry for abuse of that substance can be substantial.
Research emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and intervention, and indicates that the duration of use before starting treatment is related to the length of time it takes treatment admissions to achieve abstinence.1 Duration of use prior to treatment entry may vary by a number of factors (e.g., substance of abuse and demographic characteristics) and may signal disparities in access to care.
Data from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) can be used to examine the duration of use prior to treatment entry and identify potential disparities in treatment access.
This issue of The TEDS Report examines differences in the length of time between adult age at first admission to substance abuse treatment and age of first use of the primary substance of abuse—that is, duration of use.2,3 In 2009, there were approximately 1.8 million admissions aged 18 or older. Of these, 36.9 percent (approximately 669,000) were first-time admissions.
Duration of Use
Among adult first-time substance abuse treatment admissions, the average age at first use of the primary substance of abuse was 18.4 years, and the average age at admission to treatment was 34.0 years.
Taken together, these findings indicate that adult first-time admissions used their primary substance of abuse an average of 15.6 years before receiving treatment. Duration of use was longer among males than females (16.5 vs. 13.8 years), and ranged from 13.3 years among Asian or Pacific Islander admissions to 17.4 years among American Indian/Alaska Native admissions
Duration of Use by Primary Substance of Abuse
The length of time between first use and entry into substance abuse treatment differed by primary substance of abuse. Adult first-time alcohol admissions had the longest duration of use with an average of 20.2 years between first use and treatment entry (Figure 2).
The duration of use among first-time cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and stimulant admissions ranged from 12 to 14 years.4 The shortest duration of use was for first-time prescription drug admissions with an average of 7.8 years between first use and treatment entry.