Substance use

Substance use disorders (SUD) affect people from all walks of life and all age groups. SUD is a treatable mental disorder that affects a person’s brain and behavior, leading to their inability to control their use of substances like legal or illegal drugs, alcohol, or addictive substances. Substances like alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine are also considered drugs. When you’re addicted, you may continue using the drug despite the harm it causes.

The risk of addiction and how fast you become addicted vary by drug and person. Some drugs, such as opioid painkillers, have a higher risk and cause addiction more quickly than others.

As time passes, you may need larger doses of the drug to get high. Soon, you may need the drug to feel good. As your drug use increases, you may find that it’s increasingly difficult to go without the drug. Attempts to stop drug use may cause intense cravings and make you feel physically ill. These are called withdrawal symptoms.

The reality behind Utah's opioid addiction

0
Utahns died as a result of drug overdose in 2024.
0%%
of Utah overdose deaths involved at least one prescription opioid in 2024.
0%
of Utah overdose deaths were due to a fentanyl-related overdose in 2024.
0
Utahns died from a drug overdose on average each month in 2024.

Naloxone

Can save a life.

Naloxone

Naloxone is a prescription medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. It usually works within 3-5 minutes and, depending on the device, is effective when sprayed in the nose or injected into a muscle.

Utah now has a standing order for naloxone prescriptions. This means that Utah pharmacists can now dispense naloxone without a prescription. A full list of locations offering naloxone can be found here. 

The State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS)

A complete picture of fatal overdose deaths

The State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) provides a comprehensive surveillance system that helps us understand the “who, when, where, and how” of overdose deaths. It also offers insights into why these deaths occur. SUDORS gathers data on unintentional and undetermined intent drug overdose deaths from three primary sources and additional ones. The system links records from various sources into an anonymous database. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia participate in SUDORS.

SUDORS can:

  • Educate communities about circumstances contributing to fatal overdoses.
  • Alert health providers, public health professionals, medical examiner offices, and other partners of newly emerging drug threats.
  • Inform drug overdose prevention, response planning, and strategies using toxicology and circumstance data.
  • Evaluate the impact of overdose prevention and response efforts.

Primary sources:

  • Death certificates 
  • Medical Examiner Reports 
  • Toxicology laboratory reports
  • Emergency medical services (EMS) reports
  • Scene investigator reports
  • Police reports

Utah statistics:

Drug overdose deaths occurred among those who were:
  • Males (64%)
  • Between the ages of 35 and 54 years (48%)
  • Had a high school education or less (62%)
  • Never married (39%)
  • Residents of Utah at the time of their death (95%)
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Female victims of drug overdose were more likely than male decedents to be receiving current mental health treatment and to have received a medical diagnosis related to mental health.
See the data

Data collected (over 600 elements collected), including:

  • Demographics
  • Location of overdose
  • Date of death
  • Mental health history
  • History of substance use
  • Bystanders presence
  • Naloxone administration
  • Drug use history
  • Drug administration route
  • Drugs contributing to death

    How to use the data:

  • Educate partners about location specific risks.
  • Inform drug overdose prevention and response planning. 
  • Evaluating the impact of current prevention and response efforts.

Additional resources: 

See additional resources about the SUDORS from the CDC here.

CDC SUDORS Dashboard

Access to the complete list of data variables from the SUDORS coding manual.

Reference

  1. State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, 2019-2024 data [cited 2025 June].

Tobacco prevention

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The Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TCPC) uses comprehensive strategies to reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related disease and death. Their primary focus is on developing strategies and implementing activities that will prevent the use of tobacco and, at the same time, implement and support activities that will control or alleviate the negative health effects of direct use or indirect exposure to tobacco.
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Alcohol use and alcoholism

0%
Of Utah adults reported current alcohol use in 2021.
0%
Of Utah adults reported binge drinking.
0
In the nation, the number of alcohol poisoning deaths.
0
Utahns die from alcohol-attributable causes each year.
Alcohol misuse includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems. Alcohol use that involves uncontrolled drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, or continued use even when it causes problems is called alcohol use disorder (AUD).
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Alcohol has been one of the most widely used substances by youth in Utah. Similar to Utah adults, in 2017, adolescents reported much lower rates of current alcohol use than the national average (8.8% of 8th, 9th, and 12th grade students compared to 19.8% nationwide). The prevalence of binge drinking among Utah youth who did drink was 50.8% compared to the national average of 57.8%.

Learn more about alcohol use