Drug and alcohol abuse rates are higher in the District than anywhere else in the country, and experts say the wide availability of drugs, high stress levels and difficulties getting abusers into treatment fuel the city’s persistently stratospheric rates. A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 11.3 percent of people 12 and older abused or were dependent on alcohol or drugs in the past year, well above the national average of 8.9 percent. Maryland’s abuse rate was 8.1 percent and Virginia’s was 9.4 percent.
Drug and alcohol problems have long been a problem in all corners of the nation’s capital, from drug deals on street corners to college binge drinking to the White House — even former first lady Betty Ford admitted to a long battle with drinking and painkiller addiction after she left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
