Did You Know?

• 4.2 million Texans live with mental illness.
• Mental illness is costing Texas up to $ 16.6 billion per year in lost productivity and family revenue.
• Of the $16.6 billion economic cost of mental illness in 2003 the report found Texas lost $13.3 billion through lost income, $2.6 billion for mortality, and $700 million for lost income due to family care giving.
• Recent state budget cuts have resulted in Texas being ranked 49th in per client spending on services for mental health care.
• Mental health services funding dropped by about 3.5 percent, or $50 million, from the state's previous two-year budget period; placing an additional burden on state and local taxpayers at a rate of least $1.5 billion per year.
• In 2003, an estimated 10.9 million persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. This corresponds to 4.6 percent of the population aged 12 or older. The rates were 14.1 percent among young adults aged 18 to 25 and 3.1 percent among adults aged 26 or older. These rates were all similar to the 2002 rates.
• In 2003, an estimated 10.9 million persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. This corresponds to 4.6 percent of the population aged 12 or older. The rates were 14.1 percent among young adults aged 18 to 25 and 3.1 percent among adults aged 26 or older. These rates were all similar to the 2002 rates.
• In 2003, approximately one in six youths (16.1 percent) reported that he or she had been approached by someone selling drugs in the past month. This was about the same percentage as in 2002 (16.7 percent). The percentage of youths reporting that it would be easy to obtain marijuana declined slightly between 2002 and 2003, from 55.0 to 53.6 percent. The percentage of youths reporting that LSD would be easy to obtain also decreased, from 19.4 to 17.6 percent.
• There was a significant increase from 2002 to 2003 in the number of persons aged 12 or older with lifetime nonmedical use of pain relievers, from 29.6 million to 31.2 million. Specific pain relievers with statistically significant increases in lifetime use were Vicodin®, Lortab®, or Lorcet® (from 13.1 million to 15.7 million); Percocet®, Percodan®, or Tylox® (from 9.7 million to 10.8 million); Hydrocodone (from 4.5 million to 5.7 million); OxyContin® (from 1.9 million to 2.8 million); methadone (from 0.9 million to 1.2 million); and Tramadol (from 52,000 to 186,000)