Interesting Facts

From the US Department of Health & Human Studies come some very interesting numbers, here are a few I found surprising:

- 24.4% of Blacks aged 12 or older were current smokers
- Among the 21 major occupational categories, the highest rates of past year major depressive episode among full time employed workers aged 18 to 64 were found in the personal care and service occupations (10.8%) and the food preparation and service related occupations (10.3%).
- From 2004 to 2006 an annual average of 6.3 million women (9.4%) aged 18 to 49 needed treatment for a substance use problem.
- An annual average of 943,000 persons aged 12 or older were recent initiates of hallucinogens (i.e., they had used hallucinogens for the first time in the 12 months before the survey).
- In 2006, an estimated 20.4 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users
- Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2006 survey (50.9 percent). This translates to an estimated 125 million people, which is similar to the 2005 estimate of 126 million people (51.8 percent).
- More than one fifth (23.0 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking (having five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the 30 days prior to the survey) in 2006.
- In 2006, among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate of binge drinking was 42.2 percent, and the rate of heavy drinking was 15.6 percent.

We are supposed to be one of the most progressive nations in the world. Scary statistics. Get off the drugs people.