Facts and Numbers
This percentage of people experience a mental illness within the past year.
What is 25%.
This US state has the highest percentage of self-reported substance use disorder in the USA.
Hint: think cold, northern state
What is Montana (19.2% of adults).
Montana has the highest self-reported rate (19.2% of adults) of substance abuse. Oregon, Washington, South Dakota and Kansas round out the top five.
This neurotransmitter is released in abnormal quantities when high or drunk, creating the eupohoric effect.
What is dopamine.
Dopamine is also responsible for motivation, craving, and the drive for "more" of anything.
What is "Live and Let Live."
This holiday has the highest number of drunken driving accidents.
What is Thanksgiving.
A strong desire; a compulsion; an urge.
What is a craving.
This number of Americans (in the millions) admit to struggling with substance abuse in the past year.
What is 48.7 million Americans.
This is almost 15% of the people.
This US state has the lowest percentage of self-reported substance abuse.
Hint: think warm, eastern, southern state known for pecans and peaches
What is Georgia. GA is the state with the lowest rate of self-reported substance abuse (11.31% of adults).
This hormone and neurotransmitter is called the "bonding chemical" and the "love chemical" - and is related to the reproductive system, childbirth, and is also released during positive social interactions.
What is oxytocin.
Pretend you know something...act as if...until you actually do know it.
Hint: Not real, a copy, a dupe, insincere,
What is "Fake it till you make it."
This is the period of time (in months) when relapse is most likely to occur.
What is the first 6 months.
This is a physical symptom of addiction that causes the individual to use more and more of the substance to feel the same effects as when they used less of the substance.
What is tolerance.
This percentage of Americans admit to using illicit drugs.
What is 25% of Americans. (70 million people) admitted they use illicit drugs, according to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use.
Marijuana is the most commonly used ILLICIT drug in the USA with almost 50% admitting to use within their lifetime.
This number of American people, in the hundreds, die an alcohol-related death every day.
What is 488.
In the United States, 178,000 people died from alcohol in the last statistically available year (2021). That’s 488 deaths every day from alcohol.8
Of those 178,000 deaths:
This mood-boosting neurotransmitter/hormone is most impacted by the foods you eat.
What is serotonin.
This cliche' refers to our tendency to project onto others.
Hint: Starts with the word "Spot."
What is "Spot it, you got it."
You should avoid these relapse _____________: people, places, objects, feelings, and times that cause cravings.
What are triggers.
The presence of this substance is involved in more suicides than any other substance, elicit or legal.
What is alcohol.
The most commonly used mood-altering substance in the USA is__________, followed by __________ and _______________.
What is alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.
This state has the highest number of tobacco users and cigarette smokers (33% or 1/3 of their population use nicotine daily).
What is Kentucky.
Kentucky is the state with the most tobacco users; more than one-third of Kentuckians ages 12 and older report using tobacco of some kind in the past month. Kentucky also leads the country in cigarette users, with 1 in 4 people self-reporting smoking cigarettes.3
More than 1 in 5 people smoke cigarettes in West Virginia, Missouri, Wyoming, Louisiana and Arkansas. West Virginia, Missouri and Louisiana are also close behind Kentucky for overall tobacco use as well.
Only 13.01% of Californians reported having used tobacco in the last statistically available month. Cigarette usage is even lower in Utah, where just over 10% of the state’s population reported cigarette usage.
This neurotransmitter is deficient (especially) in alcoholics, contributing the feeling of content anxiety and panic.
What is GABA.
Gaba is an inhibitory (meaning a "STOP) chemical that is not regulated in alcoholics.
What does this acronym mean?
H.A.L.T
What is "hungry, angry, lonely, tired."
This substance causes side effects such as malnutrition, cancer of the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and birth defects (among many other medical conditions).
What is alcohol.
The high or drunk you feel is not actually the drug itself; it is the forced release of this chemical (neurotransmitter) in your brain.
What is dopamine.
This drug class is the second most widely used ILLICT substance (admission of lifetime use, at least once), 17% admit at least 1 lifetime use of this drug class.
What is hallucinogens.
This state has the highest percentage of marijuana users.
Hint: northeastern small state, cold, legal in this state
What is Vermont.
Vermont leads the nation with the highest rate of marijuana use; just over 22% of people 12 and up reported using marijuana in the last month. Recreational marijuana has been legal in Vermont since 2020.3
Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Maine round out the top five states for marijuana usage. Recreational marijuana has been legal in Alaska and Oregon since 2014, Colorado since 2012 and Maine since 2016.
Oklahoma is the state with the highest rate of marijuana usage (16.61%) where recreational use is currently not legal.
True or False:
Once brain cells are "killed" by chronic substance use, those brain cells are gone forever.
False.
We now know that the brain is plastic (neuroplasticity) and does create new brain cells (neurogenesis), although, sometimes, due to chronic substance use, the brain can be permanently damaged.
What does this mean?
O.D.A.T
What is "one day at a time."
This class of drugs are natural and synthetic drugs that distort thinking, awareness and the senses.
What are hallucinogens/psychedelics.
This is the percentage of chemically-addicted adults that actually seek clinical treatment for their substance use disorder.
A. 0-20%
B. 20% to 50%
C. 50% to 75%
What is A.
It's only about 10%.