Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Older Adults in Substance Abuse Treatment: 2001
A report, in Adobe Acrobat format, from the Drug and Alcohol Services Information System, available through the Open Minds web site - "This report examines substance abuse treatment admissions aged 55 or older in 2001, and compares them with younger admissions. In 2001, there were 58,000 admissions aged 55 or older among the 1.7 million substance abuse treatment admissions in the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). While the number of admissions aged 55 or older has increased over the years, the proportion of admissions aged 55 or older has remained stable at 3 percent of all admissions."  
  

SAMHSA Releases Data on Costs of Treatment for Alcohol and Drug Abuse
SAMHSA press release - "The average cost for treatment of alcohol or drug abuse in outpatient facilities was an estimated $1,433 per course of treatment in 2002, according to a new report announced today by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report, Alcohol and Drug Services Study Cost Study, finds that residential treatment for alcohol or drug abuse cost $3,840 per admission and outpatient methadone treatment cost $7,415 per admission in 2002." The full report is available in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats.  
  

SAMHSA Launches Multimedia Mental Health Education Effort
SAMHSA press release - "The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today launched a multimedia public education effort aimed at increasing awareness of the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness. The campaign, “Mental Health: It’s Part of All Our Lives,” includes broadcast and print public service advertisements that seek to educate the public that mental illnesses are common, affecting almost every family in America, and that recovery can be expected. The campaign is a three-year initiative in eight states: California, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin..."