Vancouver Treatment Centers

Vancouver, Washington, is home to around 143,560 people. It is found in Clark County and is around 51 miles from Salem and 8 miles from Portland. The city saw a huge population boom of 210 percent during the 1990s. Today, the population continues to grow, although at a much slower rate of 1.7% per year. Vancouver, WA, also has its share of drug and alcohol problems. This is reflected in the fact that it has above state average levels of property crimes. However, its levels of violent crimes are lower than the state average. What this suggests is that some of the prevention and intervention efforts the city has put in place are proving to be effective, although more clearly needs to be done.

Statistics on Substance Abuse in Vancouver, WA

Various pieces of research have been conducted on the status of drug and alcohol dependency and addiction in Vancouver. What these have found was that:

• 2.8% of those aged over the age of 12 currently suffer from an illicit substance addiction.
• 7.4% of those aged over the age of 12 currently suffer from an alcohol addiction.

Vancouver believes that, in order to prevent future substance abuse, the entire community must come together. Hence, they were happy to see that parents clearly disapprove of their children using or abusing substances. However, what various studies have shown is that parents seem to only strongly disapprove of substance abuse when their children are younger. Once they become older, the conversation with parents often stops.

Parents are encouraged to take action as soon as possible. This is particularly true for parents who have sons, as the chance of substance abuse is around two times higher in men than in women. Statistics have shown that 11.9% of all males abuse substances, compared to 6.1% for women. However, this is mainly for those over the age of 20. Before that, boys and girls tend to have the same rates of substance abuse.

The Vancouver Solution

Vancouver aims to address the situation with drug and alcohol abuse in a variety of different ways. Firstly, it wants to put measures in place to make sure young people do not turn towards addictive substances in the first place. Various healthy alternatives have been implemented by working together with a variety of community organizations.

Secondly, they want to ensure that people who have already developed a dependency or addiction can receive the treatment they need through detox and rehab facilities. Because very few go out and seek the help they need, Vancouver authorities have instated the Drug Treatment Court of Vancouver. Here, those who have been arrested for DUI or other similar types of charges, are offered the opportunity to seek help instead of having to go to prison. Those who graduate will have their criminal case dismissed.

Last but not least, the city wants to invest in making treatment more accessible and available. This includes signposting to the various organizations, funding more work, raising awareness about the various facilities, training staff members, and more.