The Recovery Bill of Rights
is a statement of the principle that all Americans have a right to recover from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Learn more…
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people in the U.S are in recovery?
Over 20 million Americans are in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
In September 2009, Faces & Voices used information provided by Mark Willenbring, M.D., then Director of the Treatment and Recovery Research Division of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/National Institutes of Health, to quantify the number of Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs (not including smoking and nicotine dependence). Dr. Willenbring used the following sources to help us calculate that over 20 million Americans are in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in the United States Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
Deborah S. Hasin, PhD; Frederick S. Stinson, PhD; Elizabeth Ogburn, MS; Bridget F. Grant, PhD, PhD Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(7):830-842.
http://www.censusscope.org/us/chart_age.html
Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Drug Abuse and Dependence in the United States Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
Wilson M. Compton, MD, MPE; Yonette F. Thomas, PhD; Frederick S. Stinson, PhD; Bridget F. Grant, PhD, PhD Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(5):566-576.