Comparing Illinois' Drug Problems to the Other States

We continually hear about the opioid epidemic in Illinois (and across the country), so how do our problems here compare to what's going on in the rest of the country?

Personal finance site WalletHub recently published a study called "Drug Use by State: 2018’s Problem Areas," in which they compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Here's what WalletHub's analysts looked at to make their determinations:

Given the uncertain future and lack of significant progress to date, it’s fair to wonder where drug abuse is most pronounced and which areas are most at risk in the current political climate. This report attempts to answer those questions by comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 20 key metrics, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescriptions and meth-lab incidents per capita.

Before we get to Illinois' standing in the list, here are the 5 states with the highest amount of drug use:

1) District of Columbia

2) Missouri

3) New Hampshire

4) Michigan

5) West Virginia

Next, we move on to the 5 states with the lowest amount:

47) North Dakota

48) Kansas

49) Utah

50) Iowa

51) Minnesota

Here in Illinois, we take spot number 27.

Drug Abuse & Prevention in Illinois (1=Biggest Problem; 25=Avg.)

28^th – Share of Teenagers Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
30^th – Share of Adults Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
41^st – Opioid Pain Reliever Prescriptions per Capita
28^th – Drug Overdose Deaths per Capita
30^th – Drug Arrests per Capita
30^th – Share of Adults Who Needed but Didn’t Receive Treatment for Illicit Drug Use in the Past Year
35^th – Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities per 100,000 People (12 Years and Older) Using Illicit Drugs