ST. LOUIS — St. Louis ranked 10th on a list of the 50 largest U.S. cities for the greatest need of addiction counselors.
Grand Canyon University studied cities across categories relating to the number of addiction counseling resources available, addiction rates and rate of arrests for drug-related crime.
Each city earned a score of zero to five for eight different factors. Those factors were then weighted to produce a final score for each city on a scale of 0-100, with higher scores indicating a greater need for addiction counseling.
St. Louis ranked 10th with a score of 62.8. Chicago ranked 16th with a score of 59.1. Las Vegas topped the list with an 82.6 score, according to the study, followed by Oklahoma City with a 71.1 score.
Since 1990, the number of drug overdose deaths have more than tripled, while drug and alcohol addictions cost the United States economy more than $600 billion annually. Of the 21 million Americans battling addiction, just 10% receive counseling and treatment, according to treatment website Addiction Center.
Click here to see how the need for addiction counselors is spread throughout the U.S.
