Alcohol abuse most common among veterans seeking substance abuse treatment in 2013

Recent findings show veterans who sought substance abuse treatment at a non-Veterans Affairs facility were most likely to use alcohol, followed by heroin and cocaine.

“Veterans who served in the U.S. military often face challenging experiences during their service. Some veterans turn to substance use as a way to cope with their experiences. This unhealthy behavior can lead to the need for substance abuse treatment,” according to researchers.

Researchers analyzed data from the Treatment Episode Data Set, a database of substance abuse treatment admissions primarily at publicly-funded treatment facilities. The database excludes admissions to Veterans Affairs facilities, thus, veteran admissions in the database represent those who sought substance abuse treatment at a non-VA facility.

There were 62,000 veteran admissions in 2013.

Alcohol was the most common primary substance of abuse among veteran admissions (65.4%), followed by heroin (10.7%) and cocaine (6.2%).

Veteran admissions were more likely to report alcohol (65.4% vs. 37.4%) as their primary substance of abuse and less likely to report marijuana (5.5% vs. 13.4%) or heroin (10.7% vs. 20.9%) as their primary substance of abuse, compared with nonveteran admission.

Reference:

http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_2111/Spotlight-2111.html