Substance Misuse and Mental Health

Over one million Americans struggle with a substance misuse disorder.  Alarmingly, we are experiencing a set of epidemics, as more than one million people have died in the past decade from drug overdoses, alcohol misuse and suicide. If these trends continue, drugs, alcohol and suicide could take the lives of an estimated 1.6 million Americans in the next 10 years.

Many factors contribute to drug and alcohol misuse and suicide, including family and social relationships, social and emotional development, childhood trauma, lack of economic opportunity and the cycle of poverty. There is an urgent need to invest in evidence-based, multisector programs and interventions that help people at crisis points and that address the root causes of these deaths.