Poll: Nearly Half of Americans Say Substance Abuse Has Affected Family

Nearly half of the adults in the United States claim substance abuse has caused problems within their families, according to a Gallup poll.

A report by the Hill noted that “forty-six percent of respondents said they have experienced substance abuse in their family overall, with 18 percent reporting just alcohol problems, 10 percent reporting only drug problems and 18 percent reporting problems with both, according to Gallup.”

“The poll also found women are slightly more likely than men to report drug problems within their families, and that adults without a college degree are more likely, at 39 percent, to report family drinking problems than those with a degree, at 32 percent,” the report concluded.

The Gallup poll also stated that individuals who rarely or never attend religious worship services have reported a higher rate of family members who abuse drugs and alcohol in contrast to those who attend services weekly.

“Some regional differences are also seen, with residents of the West more likely than those in the East to report drinking problems,” the poll found.

“Westerners are also more likely than Easterners and Southerners to report family drug problems. However, no other regional differences are statistically significant.”

Experts say environmental factors such as an unstable home life, peer influences, and community attitudes toward drugs may also increase a person’s risk of addiction, according to the American Addiction Centers website.

In September, Breitbart News reported that James Carroll, director of the U.S. Office of Drug Control Policy, stated that border security is an integral part of combatting the drug abuse that is hurting American families.

Carroll said 99 percent of the drugs killing Americans today are coming from outside the United States.

He noted that “whether it’s opioids such as heroin or fentanyl — the synthetic version, which naloxone works on —  or whether it’s cocaine [or] methamphetamine — [for] which naloxone doesn’t reverse … overdoses — that is why the president is committed to securing our country, securing the southwest border and stopping these drugs from coming in.”