DENVER – Colorado’s drug problem is one of the worst in the country according to a new report from WalletHub.
The financial services website analyzed data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found that Colorado ranked third in overall drug abuse.
Drug use is a difficult behavior to track because not everybody admits to using drugs and not everyone engaging in illegal behavior gets caught. WalletHub – which, it should be noted doesn’t have any particular expertise in drug-related issues or health policy as a whole -- looked at a wide range of statistics in an attempt to gauge use of both illegal and prescription drugs.
Those statistics include the number of drug arrests per capita, number of meth lab incidents, opioid prescriptions, percentage of teenagers who used illicit drugs in the past month and the number of substance abuse treatment facilities, among others.
Since marijuana is legal in Colorado, its use wouldn’t factor into most of those statistics, except for underage use and criminal offenses.
Here are the top 10 states for drug abuse, according to WalletHub:
1. Washington, DC
2. Vermont
3. Colorado
4. Delaware
5. Rhode Island
6. Oregon
7. Connecticut
8. Arizona
9. Massachusetts
10. Michigan
In addition to ranking third overall, Colorado also has the highest percentage of both adult and teenage drug users, according to WalletHub.
For more information, including the methodology used, log on to wallethub.com.