Drug Addiction: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Effects and Treatment

Drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder defined by compulsive drug seeking and continued drug use despite harmful consequences. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) classifies drug addiction as substance use disorder and grades it mild, moderate or severe against 11 diagnostic criteria.

Substance use disorder is common. SAMHSA's 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health counted 48.4 million people aged 12 or older with a substance use disorder in the past year, or 16.8 percent of that population — 27.9 million with an alcohol use disorder, 28.2 million with a drug use disorder, and 7.7 million with both.

Drug addiction develops through three interacting causes: genetic vulnerability, environmental exposure, and psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Drug addiction damages the liver, heart, lungs and brain, and it raises the risk of fatal overdose. Treatment for drug addiction combines medical stabilization, structured behavioral therapy, and medication for opioid and alcohol use disorders.

What Is Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction is a chronic brain disorder in which repeated drug use rewires the circuits that govern reward, stress and self-control, producing compulsive drug seeking that persists after the drug is stopped. The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes the mechanism in "Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction."

Drugs raise dopamine in the basal ganglia far above the levels that natural rewards produce. The brain answers that surge by cutting dopamine production and reducing receptor density, so the reward circuit responds less to everything — food, sex, social contact and the drug itself. Tolerance follows. So does anhedonia, the flattening of ordinary pleasure that makes continued drug use feel necessary rather than pleasurable.

Goldstein and Volkow (2011), "Dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex in addiction: neuroimaging findings and clinical implications," Nature Reviews Neuroscience, located the second half of the mechanism in the prefrontal cortex. Drug addiction weakens the prefrontal circuits that weigh consequences and inhibit impulses, which is why insight alone does not end compulsive drug use. Both changes outlast the last dose by months to years, and that persistence is what makes drug addiction a chronic condition rather than an acute one.

Drug addiction concentrates locally. New Jersey providers reported 81,217 substance use treatment admissions in calendar year 2024 to the New Jersey Substance Abuse Monitoring System, per the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Substance Use Overview. New Jersey drug addiction statistics break that total down by substance, county and level of care.

What Is The Difference Between Drug Abuse And Addiction?

The difference between drug abuse and drug addiction is control. Drug abuse is harmful use that a person still directs; drug addiction is compulsive use that directs the person.

Drug misuse means taking a substance in a way that causes harm, such as using a larger opioid dose than prescribed or drinking before driving. Misuse describes behavior; substance use disorder describes a diagnostic pattern of impaired control, social impairment, risky use, tolerance, or withdrawal. Harmful use does not by itself establish addiction, and assessment determines whether the diagnostic criteria are met.

What Is The Difference Between Drug Dependence And Addiction?

The difference between drug dependence and drug addiction is that dependence is a physiological adaptation and addiction is a behavioral disorder. Dependence produces tolerance and withdrawal. Drug addiction produces compulsion.

Dependence develops on many drugs that carry no addiction risk. A patient taking beta-blockers, antidepressants or corticosteroids as prescribed becomes physiologically dependent, and abrupt discontinuation triggers withdrawal, yet no craving or compulsive drug seeking appears. Drug addiction adds the behavioral layer: loss of control, drug use that crowds out work and relationships, and continued drug use after documented harm. DSM-5-TR merged the older "substance abuse" and "substance dependence" categories into one substance use disorder diagnosis in 2013 precisely because clinicians were reading physiological dependence as drug addiction in pain patients who had neither cravings nor compulsion.

What Is The Difference Between Drug Tolerance And Dependence?

The difference between drug tolerance and drug dependence is what each one predicts. Tolerance predicts a rising dose; dependence predicts withdrawal.

Drug tolerance is the diminished effect of a fixed dose after repeated drug use, and it drives dose escalation. Dependence is the adapted state in which the body requires the drug to maintain normal function, and it announces itself when drug use stops. Tolerance appears first and appears alone. Dependence follows tolerance, and dependence is what makes unsupervised cessation from alcohol and benzodiazepines medically dangerous.

What Is The Difference Between Drug Addiction And Alcoholism?

The difference between drug addiction and alcoholism is the substance, not the disease. Alcoholism is alcohol use disorder, one specific substance use disorder among several. Drug addiction and alcoholism share the same dopamine and prefrontal mechanism and the same DSM-5-TR criteria.

Two clinical differences matter. Alcohol withdrawal kills — delirium tremens carries mortality without treatment — while withdrawal from cocaine and cannabis does not. And alcohol is legal and socially normalized, which delays diagnosis. Alcohol use disorder accounted for 27.9 million of the 48.4 million past-year substance use disorders SAMHSA counted in 2024, making it the single largest category of addiction in the United States.

What Is The Difference Between Behavioral Addictions And Drug Addictions?

The difference between behavioral addictions and drug addictions is the trigger. Behavioral addictions engage the reward circuit through an activity; drug addictions engage it through a chemical. Gambling, gaming, shopping and compulsive internet use raise dopamine through anticipation and intermittent reward rather than through direct pharmacology.

DSM-5-TR recognizes exactly one behavioral addiction as a diagnosis — gambling disorder — and places it in the same chapter as the substance use disorders because the neurobiology matches. Internet gaming disorder sits in the manual's section for conditions requiring further study. The practical distinction is medical: drug addiction produces physical withdrawal that requires clinical management, and behavioral addiction does not.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Substance Use Disorder?

The signs of substance use disorder are cravings, tolerance, withdrawal, loss of control over drug use, failure to meet obligations, and continued drug use despite harm. DSM-5-TR diagnoses substance use disorder when 2 of 11 criteria appear within 12 months, and grades severity by criterion count: mild at 2 to 3, moderate at 4 to 5, severe at 6 or more.

The following are the 11 diagnostic criteria the DSM-5-TR uses, grouped into the four clusters the American Psychiatric Association defines.

• Impaired control. Taking the drug in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended; wanting to cut down and failing; spending substantial time obtaining, using or recovering from the drug; craving.
• Social impairment. Failing to meet obligations at work, school or home; continuing drug use despite the interpersonal problems it causes; giving up occupational, social or recreational activities.
• Risky use. Using the drug in physically hazardous situations such as driving; continuing drug use despite a physical or psychological problem the drug caused or worsened.
• Pharmacological criteria. Tolerance, meaning a need for markedly increased amounts to reach the same effect; withdrawal, meaning a substance-specific syndrome on cessation.

Observable changes accompany the diagnostic criteria and appear earlier. The following are the physical and behavioral changes that most often prompt a family member to seek an assessment.

• Declining personal grooming and unexplained weight change
• Sleep pattern reversal, hyperactivity or extended fatigue depending on the drug
• Mood swings between euphoria and irritability that track the drug use cycle
• Secrecy about whereabouts, finances and social contacts
• Financial deterioration, unexplained borrowing, or legal problems including driving under the influence
• Withdrawal from hobbies, family and long-standing friendships
• Minimizing or denying drug use when the evidence is direct

Withdrawal deserves separate attention because withdrawal drives relapse. Physical withdrawal produces headache, muscle pain, sweating, nausea and tremor. Psychological withdrawal produces anxiety, depression and insomnia that outlast the physical symptoms by weeks. Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal produce seizures and delirium and require medical supervision.

What Are The Causes Of Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction has three causes that compound: inherited genetic vulnerability, environmental exposure, and untreated psychiatric illness. No single factor produces drug addiction on its own, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse attributes the disorder to the interaction rather than to any one cause.

Genetic contribution varies by substance and population, with published heritability estimates commonly spanning 40 to 70 percent. Ducci and Goldman (2012), "The genetic basis of addictive disorders," Psychiatric Clinics of North America, reported heritability near 0.7 for cocaine dependence and higher concordance in monozygotic than dizygotic twins across substances. Family history is therefore one clinically relevant risk indicator, not a diagnosis or a predetermined outcome.

Brain development sets the timing. The prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control and consequence weighting, completes myelination in the mid-twenties. Drug use that begins in adolescence therefore acts on an incomplete inhibitory system, and early initiation is the developmental factor most strongly associated with adult substance use disorder.

Environment supplies exposure and opportunity. Peer drug use, household drug use, community drug availability, and limited access to education and health care each raise the probability that experimentation begins and that drug use continues. New Jersey's 2024 admission data records the socioeconomic pattern directly: 86 percent of Bergen County residents admitted for substance use treatment had household income at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Psychiatric illness supplies motive. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety precede drug addiction more often than they follow it, and untreated symptoms make substances function as self-medication. Guliyev et al. (2021), published in Alpha Psychiatry, measured PTSD in 29.8 percent of people with alcohol and substance use disorders and 35.7 percent of those with alcohol use disorder specifically. Co-occurring psychiatric illness requires dual diagnosis treatment that addresses both conditions at once, because treating either alone predicts relapse in the other.

What Are The Effects of Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction damages organ systems, worsens psychiatric illness, dismantles relationships and employment, and shortens life. The effects and consequences of drug addiction compound across physical, psychological, economic and legal domains.

Physical effects follow the drug. Alcohol produces cirrhosis, pancreatitis, cardiomyopathy and several cancers. Opioids produce respiratory depression and fatal overdose. Stimulants produce myocardial infarction, stroke and arrhythmia. Injection drug use transmits hepatitis C, endocarditis and HIV; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed 7 percent of the 31,800 estimated new HIV infections in 2022 to injection drug use.

Psychiatric effects run in both directions. Drug addiction precipitates depression, anxiety and stimulant-induced psychosis, and it worsens every psychiatric condition already present. The bidirectional relationship is why single-condition treatment fails in people with co-occurring disorders.

Economic effects are measurable at national scale. Florence, Luo and Rice (2021), "The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017," Drug and Alcohol Dependence, put the total at $1.02 trillion for one year — $471 billion attributable to opioid use disorder and $550 billion to fatal opioid overdose. At the household level, drug addiction produces job loss, debt and housing instability. New Jersey recorded 300 Bergen County treatment admissions in 2024 for people who were homeless at intake, 10 percent of that county's total.

Legal and social effects persist after drug use stops. Arrest and conviction records restrict employment and housing for years. Stigma delays help-seeking, and delayed help-seeking raises the severity at which people finally enter treatment.

What Are The Stages Of Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction progresses through six stages: experimentation, regular use, tolerance and dependence, addiction, recovery, and relapse. The stages describe a typical trajectory rather than a fixed sequence, and progression stops permanently at any stage.

The following are the six stages of drug addiction in the order they typically occur.

• Experimentation. Drug use is occasional and driven by curiosity or peer context. Most people who experiment do not progress, and genetic vulnerability determines much of who does.
• Regular use. Drug use acquires a pattern and a function — sleep, stress relief, social ease. Consequences appear and drug use continues.
• Tolerance and dependence. The dose rises to reach the prior effect, and withdrawal appears when drug use stops. Physiological adaptation is now established.
• Addiction. Drug use is compulsive, control is lost, and work, health and relationships deteriorate. DSM-5-TR criteria are met.
• Recovery. Structured treatment, medication where indicated, and sustained support produce remission. Recovery is maintained rather than completed.
• Relapse. Drug use resumes after abstinence. Relapse signals that the treatment plan needs adjustment, and it does not erase prior progress. NIDA places relapse rates for substance use disorder at 40 to 60 percent, comparable to hypertension and asthma.

What Are The Most Common Types of Drug Addiction?

The most common types of drug addiction are alcohol, nicotine, opioid, benzodiazepine, barbiturate, stimulant, cannabis, hallucinogen, prescription drug and inhalant use disorders. Each substance class produces a distinct withdrawal syndrome and requires a distinct treatment approach.

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Alcohol use disorder is the impaired ability to stop drinking despite social, occupational or health consequences. SAMHSA counted 27.9 million cases in 2024, making alcohol use disorder the most prevalent substance use disorder in the United States. Alcohol was the primary drug in 1,433 of 2,890 Bergen County treatment admissions in 2024 — 50 percent. Alcohol withdrawal produces tremor, seizure and delirium tremens, and requires medically supervised detoxification.

Tobacco and Nicotine Addiction

Nicotine addiction is dependence on nicotine delivered by cigarettes, vaping devices, or oral pouches. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation, and that speed accounts for its reinforcement strength. Nicotine addiction withdrawal produces irritability, concentration difficulty and appetite increase over 2 to 4 weeks, and nicotine replacement, varenicline and bupropion all raise cessation rates.

Opioid Addiction and Opioid Use Disorder

Opioid use disorder covers heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine. Opioids bind mu-opioid receptors in the brainstem, and respiratory depression at high doses is the mechanism of fatal overdose. Heroin was the primary drug in 588 Bergen County treatment admissions in 2024, 20 percent of the county total and second only to alcohol. Opioid use disorder responds to methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, and medication reduces overdose mortality more than behavioral treatment alone.

Benzodiazepine Addiction

Benzodiazepine addiction develops on alprazolam, clonazepam, lorazepam and diazepam, including after prescribed use for anxiety or insomnia. Repeated use produces tolerance and physical dependence on timelines that vary by medication, dose, frequency, and individual physiology. Benzodiazepine addiction withdrawal produces seizures and is potentially fatal, so cessation requires a supervised taper rather than abrupt discontinuation.

Barbiturate Addiction

Barbiturate addiction involves phenobarbital, secobarbital and pentobarbital. Barbiturates carry a narrow therapeutic index, meaning the effective dose sits close to the lethal dose, and that margin narrows further when barbiturates are combined with alcohol. Barbiturate addiction withdrawal mirrors benzodiazepine withdrawal in severity and requires the same supervised taper.

Stimulant Addiction

Stimulant addiction covers cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants including amphetamine and methylphenidate. These drugs increase dopamine signaling through mechanisms that differ by substance, dose, and route of administration. Cocaine was the primary drug in 225 Bergen County admissions in 2024. Stimulant withdrawal produces depression, fatigue, anhedonia, sleep disruption, and craving; severe psychiatric symptoms require clinical assessment even when withdrawal does not usually produce the seizure or delirium risks associated with alcohol and sedatives.

Cannabis and Marijuana Addiction

Cannabis use disorder develops in roughly 3 in 10 people who use cannabis, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that share rises when use begins before age 18. Rising THC potency has increased presentations for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome and cannabis-induced psychosis. Marijuana addiction was the primary drug in 305 Bergen County treatment admissions in 2024, 11 percent of the county total.

Hallucinogen Addiction

Hallucinogen addiction involves LSD, psilocybin, ketamine and phencyclidine. Classic hallucinogens produce tolerance rapidly and physical dependence rarely, so the clinical risk is behavioral and psychiatric rather than withdrawal-driven. Hallucinogen addiction presents with hallucinogen persisting perception disorder and with prolonged psychosis in people who have a psychotic-spectrum vulnerability.

Prescription Drug Addiction

Prescription drug addiction develops on opioid analgesics, benzodiazepines, stimulants and sedatives obtained legitimately or diverted. The clinical difficulty is that dependence is expected on these medications, so distinguishing therapeutic dependence from prescription drug addiction requires assessing behavior — early refill requests, multiple prescribers, and use outside the prescribed indication — rather than physiology alone.

Inhalant Addiction

Inhalant addiction involves solvents, aerosols, nitrites and nitrous oxide, including whippets. Inhalants cause sudden sniffing death syndrome from cardiac arrhythmia on first use, and chronic use produces irreversible white matter damage and peripheral neuropathy. Inhalant addiction occurs disproportionately in adolescents because the products are legal and inexpensive.

What Are Gas Station Drugs?

Gas station drugs are psychoactive products grouped by their convenience-store, smoke-shop, or vape-shop sales channel rather than by one drug class. The category includes tianeptine products, concentrated 7-OH, K2 or Spice, intoxicating hemp cannabinoids, and nitrous oxide products used for intoxication.

Retail availability and supplement-style packaging do not establish ingredient accuracy, medical approval, safety, or legality. Gas station drugs differ by active substance, effects, dependence risk, drug-testing limitations, emergency signs, and state-law status.

What Are the Most Commonly Used Drug Addiction Screening Tests?

The most commonly used drug addiction screening tests are DAST-10, CRAFFT, SBIRT, urine drug testing, the NIDA Quick Screen, CAGE and MAST. Screening tests identify probable substance use disorder and indicate whether a full diagnostic assessment is warranted; screening tests do not diagnose drug addiction on their own.

DAST-10

The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) is a 10-item yes-or-no questionnaire covering non-alcohol drug use over the past 12 months. Scores of 3 or higher indicate probable drug use disorder and warrant assessment.

CRAFFT

The CRAFFT Screening Test is validated for people aged 12 to 21 and asks about riding in a Car with an impaired driver, using to Relax, using Alone, Forgetting events, family or Friends raising concerns, and getting into Trouble. Two or more affirmative answers indicate high risk.

SBIRT

SBIRT is Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment, a SAMHSA-endorsed protocol delivered in primary care and emergency departments. SBIRT catches risky substance use before it meets diagnostic criteria for drug addiction.

Urine Drug Test (UDT)

Urine drug testing detects recent drug use rather than drug addiction. Detection windows run 1 to 3 days for cocaine and opioids, 2 to 4 days for benzodiazepines, and up to 30 days for cannabis in daily users. A urine drug test confirms substance presence and carries no diagnostic weight by itself.

NIDA Quick Screen

The NIDA Quick Screen asks a single question about past-year use frequency for alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs and illegal drugs. Any response above "never" routes the patient into the fuller NIDA-Modified ASSIST.

CAGE Questionnaire

The CAGE questionnaire is a four-item alcohol screen asking about attempts to Cut down, Annoyance at criticism, Guilt about drinking, and drinking as an Eye-opener. Two affirmative answers indicate probable alcohol use disorder.

MAST

The Michigan Alcohol Screening Test is a 22-item instrument covering lifetime alcohol-related consequences rather than recent use, which makes it more sensitive to long-standing alcohol use disorder than to current drinking. Additional alcohol screening tests cover shorter recall windows.

What Are Treatments for Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction treatment progresses through medical detoxification, a structured level of care matched to clinical severity, behavioral therapy, medication where indicated, and continuing aftercare. The American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria assign the level of care using six dimensions including withdrawal risk, medical condition and recovery environment.

New Jersey admission data shows how those levels are actually used. Across the 2,890 Bergen County residents admitted for substance use treatment in 2024, outpatient care accounted for 845 admissions (29 percent) and intensive outpatient for 776 (27 percent) — outpatient levels together handled more than half of all admissions.

Medical Detox

Medical detoxification manages acute withdrawal under clinical supervision, typically over 3 to 10 days depending on the substance. Detoxification is indicated for alcohol, benzodiazepine, barbiturate and opioid withdrawal. Medical detox treats withdrawal and does not treat drug addiction; people who complete detoxification without entering ongoing treatment relapse at high rates.

Inpatient Rehab

Inpatient rehab provides 24-hour residential care with continuous clinical supervision, typically for 28 to 90 days. Inpatient rehab is indicated when the home environment is unsafe, when withdrawal risk is high, or when co-occurring medical conditions require monitoring. Bergen County recorded 257 long-term and 332 short-term residential admissions in 2024.

Partial Care Program (PC)

A Partial Care Program (PC), licensed under that name in New Jersey and known nationally as a partial hospitalization program, delivers structured clinical programming during the day while the person lives at home. Partial care sits at ASAM level 2.5 and suits people who need daily clinical contact without overnight supervision.

Outpatient Treatment

Outpatient treatment provides scheduled individual and group therapy while the person maintains work, school and family responsibilities. Outpatient care is the highest-volume level of care in New Jersey, and it is appropriate when withdrawal risk is low and the recovery environment is stable.

Telehealth

Telehealth delivers individual therapy, group therapy and medication management by secure video. Remote sessions reduce travel demands and expand scheduling options for appropriate clients, and they are available at outpatient and intensive outpatient intensity.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

An intensive outpatient program delivers 9 or more clinical hours per week across 3 to 5 sessions while the person lives at home. IOP sits at ASAM level 2.1, between partial care and standard outpatient. Drug addiction treatment options differ in weekly hours and clinical intensity rather than in therapeutic method.

Therapy

Behavioral therapy is the core of drug addiction treatment at every level of care. Cognitive behavioral therapy identifies and restructures the thoughts that precede drug use. Dialectical behavior therapy builds distress tolerance and emotion regulation. Motivational interviewing resolves ambivalence about changing drug use. Contingency management, which provides tangible reinforcement for verified abstinence, has the strongest evidence base for stimulant use disorder, for which no medication is approved.

Holistic Treatment

Holistic treatment addresses sleep, nutrition, exercise and stress regulation alongside clinical care. Holistic components support treatment retention and do not substitute for behavioral therapy or medication.

Aftercare

Aftercare maintains clinical contact after a person steps down from structured treatment, through alumni programming, continuing therapy and mutual aid. New Jersey's 2024 data records 16 percent of Bergen County admissions attending Alcoholics Anonymous and 11 percent attending Narcotics Anonymous in the 30 days before intake.

Recovery Residences

Recovery residences, also called sober living homes, provide substance-free housing with peer accountability and house rules rather than clinical treatment. Recovery residences address the recovery environment when a person's housing is unstable or actively unsafe.

How Does Medication-Assisted Treatment Work?

Medication-assisted treatment combines FDA-approved medication with behavioral therapy, and it is the standard of care for opioid and alcohol use disorders. Three medications treat opioid use disorder: methadone, a full agonist dispensed through licensed opioid treatment programs; buprenorphine, a partial agonist prescribed in office settings; and naltrexone, an antagonist that blocks opioid effects. Acamprosate, disulfiram and naltrexone treat alcohol use disorder.

Medication changes outcomes rather than comfort. Methadone and buprenorphine reduce all-cause and overdose mortality in people with opioid use disorder, improve treatment retention, and lower illicit opioid use. New Jersey providers planned buprenorphine for 201 and methadone for 197 of the 2,890 Bergen County admissions in 2024. No medication is approved for stimulant, cannabis or hallucinogen use disorder, which is why contingency management carries the treatment burden for those substances.

What Does Drug Addiction Do To The Brain?

Drug addiction changes three brain systems: the basal ganglia, which registers reward; the extended amygdala, which generates withdrawal distress; and the prefrontal cortex, which exercises control. NIDA describes the three-stage cycle of binge and intoxication, withdrawal and negative affect, and preoccupation and anticipation as mapping onto those three regions.

In the basal ganglia, repeated drug use downregulates dopamine D2 receptors, which flattens response to natural rewards and establishes tolerance. In the extended amygdala, stress-signaling systems become hyperactive, producing the anxiety and dysphoria that define withdrawal and that make continued drug use relief-seeking rather than pleasure-seeking. In the prefrontal cortex, reduced activity weakens inhibitory control, so the intention to stop fails against the drive to use.

These changes persist. Imaging studies show partial dopamine receptor recovery over months of abstinence, and the prefrontal deficits that make relapse likely resolve more slowly still. Comparing a drug-addicted brain with a normal brain shows measurable structural and functional differences long after drug use has stopped.

What Are The Risks Of Drug Overdose?

Drug overdose is the leading injury-related cause of death in the United States, and opioids are involved in roughly 75 percent of overdose deaths. Overdose risk rises sharply when tolerance falls — after detoxification, after incarceration, and after any period of abstinence — because the pre-abstinence dose is now potentially fatal.

Call 911 immediately for a suspected overdose. Signs of opioid overdose are unresponsiveness, slow or stopped breathing, and blue or grey lips and fingertips. Give naloxone if it is available, start rescue breathing, and stay with the person until emergency responders arrive. New Jersey's Overdose Prevention Act protects the person who calls for help from arrest for drug possession. For a poisoning or exposure that has no reversal agent, Poison Help answers at 1-800-222-1222.

Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is the dominant driver. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, is mixed into counterfeit pills and non-opioid drugs, and produces overdose in people who did not knowingly take an opioid. Naloxone reverses opioid overdose, is available without prescription, and requires emergency medical follow-up because naloxone wears off before fentanyl does. Mixing opioids with alcohol or benzodiazepines multiplies respiratory depression and accounts for a large share of fatal overdoses.

What Are The Drug Addiction Statistics?

SAMHSA's 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health counted 48.4 million people aged 12 or older with a past-year substance use disorder, 16.8 percent of that population. That total divides into 27.9 million alcohol use disorders, 28.2 million drug use disorders, and 7.7 million people carrying both.

The following figures come from the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Substance Use Overview for calendar year 2024, the most recent county-level treatment data the state publishes.

• New Jersey providers reported 81,217 substance use treatment admissions statewide in 2024.
• Bergen County residents accounted for 2,890 admissions. Alcohol was the primary drug in 50 percent, heroin in 20 percent, marijuana in 11 percent and cocaine in 8 percent.
• Outpatient and intensive outpatient care together accounted for 56 percent of Bergen County admissions.
• 47 percent of Bergen County residents were treated in their own county, meaning more than half traveled elsewhere for care.
• Medicaid covered 61 percent of Bergen County admissions, private insurance 23 percent, and 23 percent arrived with no insurance.

Treatment access is the gap these figures describe. Most people who meet criteria for substance use disorder in a given year do not receive treatment for it, and among Bergen County residents who do enter treatment, the majority leave the county to find it.