A new report from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, finds that only 10 percent of those with a substance use disorder receive any type of specialty treatment.
The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health noted that more than 40 percent of people with a substance use disorder also have a mental health condition, yet only 48 percent of those people receive treatment for either disorder.
Murthy in the report says factors contributing to the treatment gap include the inability to access or afford care, fear of shame and discrimination and lack of screening for substance misuse and substance use disorders in general health care settings.
In 2015, more than 27 million people in the United States reported current use of illicit drugs or misuse of prescription drugs and more than 66 million people (nearly a quarter of the adult and adolescent population) reported binge drinking in the past month.
View the report here.
