Intrigued by the latest news from Yahoo! News story, Agassi admits using crystal meth in autobiography, I thought to myself – how do drugs and alcohol play into one’s drive to be successful in sports?

The article describes, world renowned tennis player, Andre Agassi’s introduction to Crystal Meth from a friend and the feelings associated with taking the drug.  Interestingly enough, the thoughts and experience accurately describe the obsession of the mind when an addict experiments with a drug for the first time.  The guilt and remorse are overcome by the intense feelings of pleasure and power.

From the sounds it, Agassi is lucky to have not developed a full on addiction to Methamphetamines, which would have more than likely required addiction treatment.  It appears that Agassi learned a valuable lesson about the dangers of using a drug like Meth, but made it out the otherside without losing everything.

Sports can be a great alternative to drinking and druging, but they can also lead young adults to use drugs to perform above and beyond their limits.  We find at Gatehouse Academy, some young people develop their addictions at a young age using performance enhancing drugs like steroids, methamphetamine and cocaine. Feeling pressure from peers and parents to preform well can put a young adult in a position to develop an addiction.

We also understand that Sports are a social activity that can introduce young people to others that use drugs and alcohol regularly. Many young people describe drinking as a way to fit in with older teammates, and feel a part of the team.

The danger of this behavior is that young people do not know if they have a predisposition to become an addict or an alcoholic.  If they are, then it will be a long and arduous battle for years to come, and they will most likely end up in one of three places: prison, mental institution or, God forbid, death.

According to a new report from the Office of Applied Studies that provided state by state analysis found that there are a wide range of types of drug and alcohol use, but that of course, every state has its varying issues.

The report was developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ( SAMHSA ) based on the 2006 and 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health ( NSDUH ).

Here are the report’s most notable findings:

• Vermont had the nation’s highest incidence rate of marijuana use among people aged 12 and older ( 2.5 percent ) while Utah had the lowest ( 1.6 ) percent.

• The District of Columbia had the nation’s highest rate of past year cocaine use among those aged 12 and older ( 5.1 percent ) while Mississippi had the lowest ( 1.6 percent ).

• Utah had the nation’s lowest rate of current underage drinking ( 17.3 percent ) while North Dakota had the highest ( 40 percent ).

• Tennessee had the nation’s highest rate of people aged 18 and older experiencing a major depressive episode in the past year ( 9.8 percent ) while Hawaii had the lowest ( 5.0 percent )

According to the press release for the study, here is another interesting finding:

“Among those aged 12 and older, Iowa had less than half the current illicit drug use rate of Rhode Island ( 5.2 percent vs. 12.5 percent ) – yet Iowa’s population aged 12 and older also had one of the nation’s highest levels of people experiencing alcohol dependence or abuse in the past year ( 9.2 percent).”

The report is an important indication that it really does not matter where you live because every state experiences its own set of problems and needs addiction treatment centers.

This report just goes to show how much of an impact addiction is having on our country as a whole and there may be more need for dual diagnosis treatment than we think.