US Addiction 9-24-25

As of 2024, approximately 48.4 million people aged 12 or older in the U.S. had a substance use disorder (SUD), according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Projections for 2025 are not yet available, but this 2024 figure is the most current data on the prevalence of addiction in the U.S..  

The 2024 figure includes:

• Alcohol Use Disorder: Approximately 9.7% of the population aged 12 or older had an alcohol use disorder in 2024, a slight decrease from 2021.
• Drug Use Disorder: 9.8% of the same population had a drug use disorder in 2024, an increase from 8.7% in 2021. 

The total SUD figure represents people who have struggled with alcohol, drug use, or both. 

Important context for these statistics

• Data Lag: Statistics for 2025, if collected, would likely not be available until mid-to-late 2026. The 2024 SAMHSA data, released in July 2025, is the most recent available.
• Growing Problem: The SAMHSA survey indicates that some substance use measures, such as cannabis use disorder and hallucinogen use, increased between 2021 and 2024.
• Treatment Gap: Despite the high prevalence, the treatment gap remains substantial. In 2023, nearly 54.2 million people needed treatment for a substance use disorder, but only a fraction received it. 

As of 2024, approximately 48.4 million people aged 12 or older in the U.S. had a substance use disorder (SUD), which includes drug and alcohol addiction. There are no confirmed statistics for 2025 yet. 

Data from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provides the following details:

• Total SUD: In 2024, 48.4 million people (16.8% of the population) had an SUD in the past year.
• Drug use disorder (DUD): 28.2 million people (9.8%) had a DUD.
• Alcohol use disorder (AUD): 27.9 million people (9.7%) had an AUD.
• Combined drug and alcohol use disorder: 7.7 million people had both an AUD and a DUD.
• Common drug disorders: The most common drug use disorder was marijuana use disorder (20.6 million people), followed by opioid use disorder (4.8 million people). 

Important considerations

• Overlap of disorders: The counts for DUD and AUD overlap with the total SUD number. The 7.7 million people with both disorders are included in the counts for both DUD and AUD, so adding the individual numbers would result in an inflated total. The total SUD figure is the most accurate representation of the full scope of addiction.
• Data release dates: The 2024 NSDUH data was released in mid-2025. Data from the 2025 survey will likely not be available until mid-to-late 2026.
• Underestimation: Addiction statistics may be underestimated due to self-reporting biases and the exclusion of incarcerated or institutionalized individuals from the survey. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+us+citizens+are+addicted+to+drugs+or+alcohol+in+2025

Comments

Those who recover from drug and alcohol addiction often report that they hit bottom and asked for God’s help and it worked.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader