Addiction among Americans mostly begins in their youth. As they start experimenting, millions of them don’t get away from the dangers of using illicit drugs. As addiction-related deaths can be preventable, many cases of them are still piling up. In Nebraska alone, drug and alcohol abuse rates are below the national average. This may be good news, but a significant percentage of the findings are attributed to teens.
Prevalent drugs in Nebraska
In 2016, 1 in 5 (20%) of Lincoln’s high school students were reported to be using alcohol. This tally is recorded within 30 days of a survey. Binge drinking in this state rise above the national average. More Nebraskan adults are reported to be intoxicated with alcohol while driving. The rate for this matter rises higher than the national average.
According to the most recent substance abuse epidemiological profile for Nebraska, alcohol is the most significant drug threat in the past ten years. Binge drinking is one of the many substance abuse-related problems more frequent in the state than the national average. About 22% of adults in the country do binge drinking while 27.5% of Nebraskan adults also do. It means that there are more than a 5% increase in the state tally. The data also found out that Nebraskans in their late teens and early 20s are most likely to be arrested for alcohol-related crimes.
Along with alcohol, Nebraskans are also notable for their abuse of methamphetamines. The methamphetamine production of this state ranks 5th in the nation. This state has an unusually high production rate of crystal meth production. As the substances used to make meth are more closely monitored than those used to produce cocaine and heroin, some necessary ones can be easily obtained. Meth has become an even bigger issue since there’s an influence of the Mexican criminal groups around Nebraska.
The 3rd most commonly abused substance in Nebraska are prescription drugs. As prescription drug abuse is already considered an epidemic in the country, Nebraskans seem to be struggling more with this drug more than any other states. Alprazolam or commonly called as Xanax is the frequently abused drug in this state along with other substances. There have been over 49 million Xanax prescriptions written in the last few years.
Nebraska substance abuse care
There is plenty of legislation against substance abuse in Nebraska. They include various laws that should help minimize the substance abuse rates of prescription drugs. Like the rest of the states in the country, Nebraska also uses Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs).
As per the Department of Health and Human Services, all the dispensed controlled substances should be submitted to the PDMP every day. The implementation of this requirement started on January 1, 2007.
Aside from PDMPs, the state also provides training materials to physicians, pharmacists, and other medication dispensers. The training may fall short at times, and the databases may sometimes be unreliable. Some medicine dispensers may leave out required information before submitting them to the PDMP. These incidents may be because of the overwhelming amount of information PDMP needs.
The current drug problem in Nebraska remains to be alarming. Local and national government aim to curb the rising rates of drug-related issues. These problems seep from the most basic unit of the society, family. All the residents of Nebraska, young and old, are urged to be part of this seemingly unending journey of battling against the threats of drug problems.
Cities of Nebraska
- Alliance
- Ashland
- Auburn
- Aurora
- Beatrice
- Bellevue
- Blair
- Broken Bow
- Central City
- Chadron
- Columbus
- Cozad
- Crete
- David City
- Fairbury
- Falls City
- Fremont
- Geneva
- Gering
- Gothenburg
- Grand Island
- Gretna
- Hastings
- Holdrege
- Imperial
- Kearney
- Kimball
- La Vista
- Lexington
- Lincoln
- Madison
- McCook
- Milford
- Minden
- Nebraska City
- Norfolk
- North Platte
- Ogallala
- Omaha
- Ord
- Papillion
- Plattsmouth
- Ralston
- Schuyler
- Scottsbluff
- Seward
- Sidney
- South Sioux City
- St. Paul
- Valentine
- Valley
- Wahoo
- Waverly
- Wayne
- West Point
- York