WASHINGTON -- A new report finds that a higher percentage of D.C. residents are using cocaine than in any state in the country.
The Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration developed the report based on 2006 and 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The report breaks down substance abuse and mental health problems on a state-by-state basis.
D.C.'s best showing in the report was a 5.1 percent rate of usage of cocaine in the past year -- among residents 12 and older. That topped the country.
We argue the fairness of such a distinction, considering we just have a city and none of those rural areas that conveniently lack clubs full of hipsters and yuppies doing bumps in the bathroom and abandoned building that serve as urban crack castles.
Mississippi had the lowest rate, 1.6 percent, but its largest city has about 175,000 people, as of July 1, 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. We'd like to compare meth abuse in Mississippi to meth abuse in the District.
Furthermore, we'd like to see the percentage of New Yorkers, Los Angelinos or Chicagoans that have used cocaine in the past year. That would give us a much better idea of how polluted our population really is.
