Table 1. Epidemiology of drug use.

Prevalence of specific drug abuse and vulnerability to develop addictions. SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2017; others 2007–2018.

National household survey and related surveys (2007–2016)
Heroin use—ever	~5.2 million
Heroin addiction	~652,000
Illicit use of opiate medication—ever	~37.1 million (i.e., 14.2% of the population 12 and over)
Dependence on such medication use	~2.1 million
Opiate (heroin, fentanyl, and other) overdose deaths	~72,3000 (in 2017)*
Cocaine use—ever	~40.5 million
Cocaine addiction	~966,000
Alcohol use—ever	~216 million
Alcoholism	~14.5 million
Marijuana use—ever	~123 million
Marijuana daily use	~4 million
Development of addiction after self-exposure
Opiate addiction	~1 in 5 to 1 in 15 (20 to 6.5%)
Alcoholism, marijuana, and cocaine dependency	~1 in 8 to 1 in 15 (12.5 to 6.5%)

*National Center for Health Statistics (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 2019.