title: The drug abuse treatment gap: recent estimates.
abstract: There is a widely acknowledged problem of drug abuse in the United States, but there is no widely accepted estimate of the number who need treatment for drug abuse. In this article, the authors present new estimates of the numbers of persons in this country who need and receive treatment. These estimates are derived from improved definitions and statistical estimating methods applied to the national Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDS). There are two separate estimates (based on severity) of people needing treatment, yielding a combined total of 7.1 million people. These new estimates are crucial to better resource planning and allocation.
authors.affiliation: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Woodward
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gfroerer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Melnick
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thoreson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Willson
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology