A new report says that adults in Washington D.C. abuse alcohol more than anyone else in the country.
According to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 8.1 percent of adults age 26 or older in D.C. are alcohol dependent. Looking at a long-term sampling, alcohol abuse rate is on the rise for the District, according to the survey.
The Washington Examiner first reported the story, noting that alcohol abuse has been a chronic issue in the District, affecting residents from the city's streets to former First Lady Betty Ford in the White House.
D.C. was also among the 10 states where residents most frequently reported smoking marijuana within the last month. Alaskan residents inhale the most, according to the survey, with 11.5 percent of residents saying the lit up with four weeks of the survey.
Cocaine use in the District was also high. The survey says that while D.C. residents age 17 and under reported some of the lowest cocaine use in the country, District adults were among the top coke users in the United States, with 3.78 percent of residents saying they had used over a one year period.
The Examiner reported that overall, D.C.'s combined alcohol and drug dependence rate was 11.3 percent of residents age 12 and older. Virginia's rate for the same age group was 9.4 percent, and in Maryland, the abuse rate was 9.4 percent.
SAMHSA's numbers are based on data from the 2008 and 2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health
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