1. What can Europe learn from the US experience of policy-related drugs monitoring?
Terry Zobeck, Ph.D. Office of National Drug Control Policy Executive Office of the President Prepared for Conference on Identifying Europe’s Information Needs for Effective Drug Policy European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction Lisbon, Portugal May 2009

2. Reporting Requirements for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
The law requires that the National Drug Control Strategy include:
An assessment of current illicit drug use
An assessment of change in illicit drug availability
An assessment of change in the consequences of illicit drug use and availability
A determination of the status of drug treatment in the United States
Source: The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (HR 6344).
4/2009

3. Current illicit drug use includes:
Estimates of drug prevalence and frequency of use as measured by national, State, and local surveys of illicit drug use (including inhalants and steroids)
Estimates by other special studies of nondependent and dependent illicit drug use
Illicit drug use in the workplace and the productivity lost by such use
Illicit drug use by arrestees, probationers, and parolees
Source: The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (HR 6344).
4/2009

4. Illicit drug availability includes:
The quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and other drugs available for consumption in the United States
The amount of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and precursor chemicals entering the United States
The number of illicit drug manufacturing laboratories seized and destroyed, and the number of hectares of marijuana, poppy, and coca cultivated and destroyed
The number of metric tons of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs seized
Changes in the price and purity of heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine; changes in the price of ecstasy; changes in THC level of marijuana; and purity or price of other drugs
Source: The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (HR 6344).
4/2009

5. Consequences of illicit drug use and availability include:
The burden illicit drug users placed on hospital emergency departments
The annual national health care costs of drug use
The extent of drug-related crime and criminal activity
Source: The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (HR 6344).
4/2009

6. Status of drug treatment includes:
The number of illicit drug users that meet diagnostic criteria for treatment
Treatment availability
Public and private treatment utilization
Source: The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (HR 6344).
4/2009

8. Trends in Current Use of Any Illicit Drug (Past 30 Days)
Source: Monitoring the Future study (December 2008).

9. Monthly Trends in Workforce Drug Testing
Source: Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, through June 2008 for cocaine and through December 2007 for marijuana and methamphetamine.

10. Estimated Number of Chronic Users of Cocaine or Heroin, 1998-2000
*Estimates for 2000 are projections.
Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, What America’s Users Spend on Illegal Drugs, (December 2001).
3/2009

11. Source: SAMHSA, 2007 Treatment Episode Data Set.
Percentage of Treatment Admissions for Four Major Drugs as Primary Substance of Abuse,
Percentage of All Treatment Admissions
Source: SAMHSA, 2007 Treatment Episode Data Set.
3/2009

12. Total needing but not receiving drug treatment = 6.185 million
Most of those needing but not receiving drug treatment did not feel the need for treatment.
Source: Table 5.47A
Total needing but not receiving drug treatment = million .
3/2009
Source: SAMHSA, 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2008).