Alcohol and Drug Treatment Facilities in South Carolina

South Carolina like the rest of the United States is grappling with an addiction crisis. In many cases, the residents of this southern state often turn to drugs and alcohol for a wide variety of reasons.

By so doing, they soon forget the beautiful diversity and rich history of their state and instead focus on feeding their substance use disorder to the exclusion of all else sometimes even including family, friends, work, school, and other aspects of life.

Over time, they soon find that the only way they can overcome their addiction is by checking into a drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation facility. But not everyone makes it to this step some lose their lives to a drug overdose.

Statistics on Substance Abuse in South Carolina

A recent survey from 2010 showed that a total of 27,802 people enrolled into addiction treatment and rehabilitation facilities in South Carolina. Of this number, 31.7 percent were female while the remaining 68.3 percent were male.

Four years before in 2006, the state had a total of 104 facilities providing this form of treatment for people struggling with substance use disorders. Even so, the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health or NSDUH showed that a total of 7 percent of the residents of South Carolina reported that they used illicit substances in the month prior to the survey at a time when the total national was at 8.02 percent.

The same survey reported that 3.09 percent of the residents of South Carolina stated that they had used illicit drugs other than marijuana or cannabis in the month preceding the survey. At the time, the total national average was at 3.58 percent.

In 2010, however, data showed that cannabis was still the substance that was most commonly cited by people who were enrolling into primary addiction treatment facilities in South Carolina. This drug effectively surpassed primary treatment enrolments for other opiates including many prescription medications and stimulants like methamphetamine.

Commonly Abused Substances in South Carolina

At the moment, substance abuse has been declared an epidemic all across the United States especially with regards to the opioid class of drugs. Even so, people continue struggling with addictions linked to many other substances.

But which substances do the local residents of South Carolina abuse the most? Consider the following information:

1. Alcohol

In 2010, 11,571 people enrolled into addiction treatment centers for an alcohol abuse as their primary condition. An additional 5,034 individuals received treatment with a secondary substance use disorder over and above their dependence on alcohol.

2. Cocaine

The same year, 1,377 people checked into substance abuse treatment facilities for smoking this drug. An additional 577 individuals received similar treatment but for taking cocaine through other modes of administration other than smoking the drug.

1,377 people were admitted to substance abuse treatment for smoking cocaine while an additional 577 people were admitted for ingesting cocaine through other means than smoking.

3. Marijuana

Similarly, data showed that cannabis was the drug that was most commonly cited by people who were being treated for an addiction in South Carolina. In 2010, for instance, 6,085 people received ongoing rehabilitation services for being dependent on this drug.

Of this number, 31.8 percent were female while the remaining 68.2 percent were male. Additionally, people between the ages of 12 and 17 comprised the largest population of individuals who received such treatment for abusing marijuana.

4. Methamphetamines

In South Carolina, the rate of methamphetamine abuse has been going down for the past few years. However, 560 individuals still received addiction treatment and rehabilitation services for abusing this drug in 2010.

5. Prescription Drugs

Today, prescription drugs are a major problem in the entire span and breadth of the United States as well as in states like South Carolina. In 2010, for instance, the state saw 1,982 people checking into addiction treatment and rehabilitation facilities for being dependent on opiate prescription medications a number that did not include those who had a substance use disorder related to heroin.

684 out of all the 876 overdose deaths related to drugs in South Carolina were linked to prescription medications. Although people abuse all types of these drugs, some classes of prescriptions were abused more frequently than the rest, including:

• Benzodiazepines (such as Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin)
• Prescription opioids (including Percocet, Vicodin, and OxyContin)
• Prescription stimulants (like Ritalin and Adderall)

Statistics on Drug Courts, Fatalities, and Injuries in South Carolina

Drug use directly led to the death of 584 people in this state in 2007 compared to the 1,062 lives that were lost to motor car accidents and the 592 individuals who died in incidents involving firearms the same year.

South Carolina also saw an increase of 231 percent in the total number of meth laboratories that were seized. In 2007, the state only made 26 such seizures which shot up to 86 altercations by 2009. This was according to data released by EPIC-NSS or the National Seizure System run by the El Paso Intelligence Center.

That said, the rates of deaths that are induced by drugs and/or alcohol in South Carolina continue exceeding the total averages across the entire United States. This is because addiction and substance abuse takes on a wide variety of forms in the state.

In particular, the substance use disorders that are suffered by some residents of South Carolina range from those arising from abusing alcohol to those coming from prescription and illicit drugs.

The South Carolina Opioid Crisis

South Carolina has been lucky in the sense that the extent to which it has been hit by the ongoing opioid crisis raging through the rest of the United States is still relatively low. However, many residents have experienced this crisis on a more personal level with some even losing their lives to opioids.

Some of the opioids that are responsible for causing addiction in high rates in South Carolina include synthetic opioids such as fentanyl as well as prescription opioid pain relief medications and heroin.

Additionally, a number of deadly and potent analogues of fentanyl have made their way to South Carolina, including but not limited to:

• Marijuana laced with carfentanil, a drug that is 10,000 as powerful as morphine
• Gray death, a mixture of Pink (or U-47700), fentanyl, heroin, and carfentanil

South Carolina also experienced the following in 2016:

• 14 people among every 100,000 residents of South Carolina were hospitalized for suffering an overdose linked to opioid drugs
• 4 out of every 1000 newborns in the state had a neonatal abstinence syndrome when they came into the world
• A total of 11,721 people received diagnoses for opioid use disorders from public and state funded treatment providers
• Heroin caused 100 deaths
• Naloxone was administered to 14 people for every 100,000 residents by emergency medical service officials
• Opioid drugs were linked to 70 percent of all drug related overdoses in the state

Addiction Prevention and Treatment in South Carolina

But what has South Carolina to quell or completely stop the damage that is being caused by these commonly abused substances? Essentially, the state has been engaging in a wide variety of programs designed to prevent and treat substance abuse among its residents. These programs include, but are not limited to:

a) Limited Prescriptions for Opioids

Henry McMaster, the governor of South Carolina released an executive order in 2017 to deal with the opioid crisis affecting the state. This order effectively limits the total number of opioid prescriptions that recipients on Medicaid can receive to 5 days and only for post-operative and acute pain.

b) Overdose Prevention Project

The state also runs an overdose prevention program. It equips and educates at-risk populations (including concerned family members and drug using people) as well as first responders with naloxone. This medication has been shown to save the lives of people experiencing an opioid overdose. It works by reversing the adverse effects of opioids.

The program also provides its services to individuals who are unable to pay for naloxone.

Last but not least, South Carolina has a wide variety of addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers that have been working towards reducing the incidence of substance use disorders among local residents.

These centers run different treatment programs each that is unique to the individual client who checks in for ongoing rehabilitation and therapy. They also create highly customized treatment plans for their patients, after conducting a clinical assessment to determine the health, history of addiction, and ongoing substance abuse on the patient.

If you are struggling with a substance use disorder in South Carolina, therefore, you should check into one of these rehab facilities. They can help you overcome this disorder and deal with any other issues in your life that might have caused you to start taking drugs and alcohol in the first place.

Overall, finding the right center to help you deal with your addiction will take some time. However, as long as you are able to find the perfect fit, you should eventually be able to overcome your dependence on drugs and/or alcohol and go on to lead a more productive, fulfilling, and meaningful lifestyle away from all substances of abuse that might have wrecked your life in the past.