In 2003, for the first time in six years, addiction-treatment admissions declined, mostly because of a 6-percent decline in admissions for alcohol treatment. Admissions for alcohol treatment have been falling almost every year since 1993, but previously had been offset by rises in admissions for other drugs of abuse.

Despite the overall decline, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported a sharp rise in treatment admissions for methamphetamine use -- also the continuation of a long-term trend. In 1993, there were 21,000 meth treatment admissions in the U.S.; in 2003, there were 116,600.

Federal officials warned that the report should not be seen as a sign that alcohol use is becoming less of a problem in the U.S., noting that there has been no corresponding drop in alcohol consumption in recent years. Rather, experts said, the decline in alcohol admissions may be traced to states shifting their treatment dollars from alcoholism treatment to treatment for illicit-drug use.

"Clearly, from the data, fewer people are in treatment for alcohol as their primary drug of abuse," said SAMHSA administrator Charles Curie. "At the same time there has been a large increase in methamphetamine and prescription drugs as primary reasons for treatment. The majority of people come to treatment with more than one drug of abuse, and alcohol may well be one of them."

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