Utahns 12 years and older who reported using any illegal substance edged up from 6.3 percent to 6.9 percent between 2002 and 2004. The national average is 8 percent.
The increase is not statistically significant. But the study suggests Utah may be losing its corner on the clean-living market. Besides Mississippi, five other states - Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee, Nebraska and New Jersey - also reported slightly lower drug use rates. Alaska continues to have the highest rate at 12 percent.
The new data, released Thursday by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is based on interviews of 135,500 Americans in 2003 and 2004 via the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The federal agency touts the report as the most detailed available.
Among the key findings: Teen drug use is creeping downward nationwide, while drug use among all age groups remained flat.
Utah officials discount the survey, favoring their own, based on larger samples.
"Our substance abuse rates are usually about half or a quarter of the national average. That's the important message to get out," said state Substance Abuse and Mental Health Director Brent Kelsey. "Talking about use rates going up sends an impression to kids that everybody is doing it. The reality is not everybody is using drugs."
Definitive or not, the federal study has value for states to use in tailoring their prevention and treatment plans, said SAMHSA administrator Charles Curie. "It is clear that illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco use vary substantially among states and regions."
Consider the following: Fewer Utahns use tobacco, marijuana or alcohol, than anywhere else in America. Underage drinking ranged from a low of 18.6 percent in Utah to 42.7 percent in North Dakota.
But a good chunk of prevention spending here comes from a national tobacco settlement, money earmarked to discourage cigarette smoking.
Also, political leaders have spared no time, or money, promoting an election-year effort to combat underage drinking. Launched this spring, Utah's campaign is funded with millions of dollars collected through the sales of beer.
Meanwhile, the state has only begun tracking and investigating another emerging trend: the abuse of prescription pain killers.
Utah has the third-highest rate of prescription narcotic abuse, according to SAMHSA. College-age residents are most at risk. The number of 18-to-25-year-old Utahns popping pain killers rose to 14 percent, up from 12 percent in 2002.
Staying ahead of fads isn't easy, acknowledged Kelsey. "Survey instruments change, so it's hard to get a good baseline."
Still unknown is how many people misuse narcotics unintentionally, and whether they acquire them legally from a doctor or buy them on the street.
Though short of meeting demand, the supply of drug treatment in Utah mirrors that in other states.
But Utah gets low marks for mental health, with the third-highest rate of people reporting psychological stress, at 12 percent.
State officials nevertheless stand by a 20-year track record in prevention excellence.
"We're looking at a lot of things, but right now we're focusing on booze, and it's working," said Ben Reaves, prevention program manager, citing a pilot program in Iron County that curbed drinking 60 percent. "Alcohol is still the No. 1 drug of choice across the nation."
kstewart@sltrib.com
