Colorado Has 5th Biggest Drug Problem in the United States

Since the early 1970's the United States has been "at war" with drugs. However, despite so many efforts by the government and different organizations, the drug problem is still very prevalent.

The drug problem is worse in some states than in others. According to WalletHub Colorado ranks as having the 5th Biggest Drug Problem in the United States. Who ranks worse than Colorado? New Mexico, West Virginia, District of Columbia, and Louisiana.

The WalletHub study compares "50 states and the District of Columbia across 20 key metrics, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescriptions and employee drug testing laws."

Oxford defines a Drug as "a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body."

National Prevention Week is May 7 to 13. The drug making the most headlines lately is Fentanyl. It's become very widespread. In 2022, over 410 million lethal doses of fentanyl were seized by the DEA.

The Drug Problem rankings for Colorado look like this:

5^th – Share of Teenagers Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
5^th – Share of Adults Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
27^th – Drug Overdose Deaths per Capita
6^th – Share of Adults Who Couldn’t Get Treatment for Illicit Drug Use in the Past Year
25^th – Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities per 100,000 People (Age 12+) Using Illicit Drugs

So maybe you're wondering what states are doing better with the drug issues of today? This WalletHub list would say Hawaii, Utah, Florida, Minnesota, and Idaho are dealing with less alarming numbers.