Interim Report to the 70th Texas Legislature: Senate Subcommittee on Health Services Page: ATTACHMENT

                                
MISLSE OF ALCCJIOL AND DRtXS

I. Statement of the Problem:
Alcohol and drug abuse is a complex problem involving physiological,
psychological, environmental, cultural, and economic factors. It leads not
only to serious health problems for the user, but also has a great impact
on family members and society at large. The misuse of alcohol and drugs is
a major contributor to suicide, crime, domestic violence, child neglect,
motor vehicle injury, falls, fires, and other injuries. Addiction to
alcohol and drugs cuts across all segments of society, but adolescents,
young adults, pregnant women, the elderly, and children of alcoholics are
at highest risk.
In 1984, there were an estimated 811,956 individuals ages 18 and over
classified as problem drinkers in Texas. The impact of alcohol abuse on
the criminal justice system is significant. In 1984, there were 893,073
arrests made in the state, 45 percent of which   involved driving while
intoxicated, public drunkenness, and liquor law violations.
The total economic cost of alcohol abuse in Texas in 1984 was $8 billion,
or $511 per individual Texan. The largest portion of the cost, $4.8
billion was due to impaired productivity, while alcohol-related motor
vehicle crashes cost $874 million. Health care for alcohol abuse cost $863
million, and crime costs totaled $648 million.
The misuse of drugs influences equally the lives of many Texans. Since
most drug abuse is an illicit or hidden activity, it is difficult to
estimate the direct or indirect impact such activities have on individuals
in the state.
Statistics do show that the drug abuse problem in Texas is continuing to
grow at a fast rate. In 1974, there were 34,013 drug arrests in Texas; in
1984, there were 56,290. There were over 2100 inmates in the Texas prison
system last year who were drug law violators, as compared to 765 in 1975.
The percentage of arrests for opium, morphine, heroin, synthetic narcotics,
or cocaine rose from 10% in 1974 to 19% in 1984, which means the use of
"hard" drugs has become more serious in the last ten years. And this trend
is also documented by the number of overdose deaths from heroin, which has
grown from 14 deaths in 1980, 23 in 1981, 32 in 1982, 43 in 1983, 67 in
1984, to 90 already reported in incomplete 1985 statistics.
Drug-related crime cost Texans $1.1 billion in 1984, while the cost for
treating drug abuse totaled $71 million. Productivity losses were $1.5
billion. The total cost of drug abuse in Texas in 1984 was $2.8 billion,
or $181 per Texan.