Adult Services

Cleveland UMADAOP operates on the belief that prevention services must be designed to reduce the risks associated with substance use and abuse across age and gender groups. Thus, the agency designs programming to reach youth, young adults and seniors. Millions of people are affected by substance abuse problems resulting in a variety of social, health and economic circumstance for communities, individuals and families. Continually, the research is showing that there is significant difference among racial groups. In the “Disparities in Alcohol-Related Problems Among White, Black, and Hispanic Americans - Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 2009;33(4):654-662 by Mulia N, Ye Y, Greenfield TK, Semore SE, it states: "African American and Hispanic drinkers were significantly more likely than white drinkers to report social consequences of drinking and alcohol dependence symptoms...Social disadvantage, particularly in the form of racial/ethnic stigma, appeared to contribute to racial/ethnic differences in problems." It concluded: "These findings suggest that to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in alcohol-related problems, public health efforts must do more than reduce heavy drinking. Future research should address the possibility of drink size underestimation, identify the particular types of problems that disproportionately affect racial/ethnic minorities, and investigate social and cultural determinants of such problems." The 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) presented the following findings: Although African-American youth drink less than other youth (according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 10.6% of African Americans between 12 and 20 used alcohol in the 30 days prior to the survey, compared to 17.9% of whites, and 5.9% of African-American youth reported "binge" drinking, compared to 10.7% of whites), there is evidence from public health research that, as they age, African Americans suffer more from alcohol-related diseases than other groups in the population. ​Rates of past month alcohol use and binge alcohol use were lower among blacks 12 or older than the national average (42.5% vs. 47.5%, and 21.6% vs. 21.7% respectively) ; the rate of past year illicit drug use, however, was higher among blacks in the same range than the national average (27.7% vs. 24.9%) The rate of need for treatment for a substance use disorder in the past year among blacks 12 or older was higher than the national average (19.7% to 19.1%). Receipt of treatment was lower for black adults who sought treatment (3.7% vs. 4.5%), and who needed treatment (18.9% vs. 23.6%). These are both lower than the rates for white adults (4.8 and 24.2, respectively). Based upon these and other correlations Cleveland UMADAOP has designed program prevention strategies to address young adults, adults and seniors, at times with some detail to gender-specifics.