Thanks to its large Mormon population Utah has long been considered the nation's most sober state -- the church bars members from alcohol and tobacco use -- but a new study shows that the Salt Lake City area has one of the highest rates of prescription-drug abuse in the U.S.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported that up to 7.92 percent of residents over age 12 in Salt Lake and Weber-Morgan counties in Utah used prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons. However, the same counties had some of the lowest rates of underage binge drinking in the nation.

The report, Substate Estimates from the 2004-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, provides data on addiction and mental health in 345 localities across the U.S., down to the county and, in some cases, census-tract level.

"The findings reveal that the nation's substance-abuse and mental-health problems are fundamentally local in character and might be addressed directly most effectively at that level," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. "This report provides local public-health authorities sharper insight into the nature and scope of the substance-abuse and mental-health problems affecting their communities."