Drug & Alcohol Rehab For New Albany Indiana

Best known for the beautiful Sherman Minton Bridge that connects the city to Louisville, New Albany rests at the southern border of Indiana. The city enjoys a border with the Ohio River and easy access to the conveniences of larger cities (primarily Louisville, Kentucky). It also serves as the county seat of Floyd County and is home to many historically and architecturally significant mansions from the 19th century, as well as many festivals that are held throughout the year.

As of the latest census, New Albany has a population of 37,506. And though the city has many vestiges of the wealth of the past, New Albany’s current economic situation is far from ideal. The median annual household income in New Albany is about $13,000 lower than the median income in Indiana. Moreover, Indiana has a poverty rate of 12.6%, while New Albany has a much higher poverty rate of 17.7%. [1]

These statistics matter because New Albany is undergoing an addiction crisis. While there’s not a direct connection between financial stability and drug abuse, economic anxiety frequently leads to increased levels of addiction, particularly among those parts of the community most affected by stagnant wages. Sadly, this has been the case in New Albany and the rest of Floyd County. In New Albany, marijuana and meth are among the most commonly abused drugs, though prescription opioids, cocaine, alcohol, and heroin are not far behind.

Continue reading to learn about substance abuse and addiction in New Albany, Indiana. If you or a loved one are fighting addiction in New Albany or the surrounding area, you can always reach out to Addiction Rehab Centers for help.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in New Albany

As a relatively small city, New Albany does not collect its own data related to addiction and substance abuse. Instead, this data is maintained by Floyd County and the state government of Indiana. Unfortunately, this means that the city’s data is lumped together with data from other nearby municipalities like Georgetown and Greenville. However, New Albany accounts for more than 40% of the county population, and well over half of all substance abuse cases recorded at the county level originate in New Albany.

To better understand the addiction epidemic in New Albany, Indiana, it’s important to first see how many people are succumbing to addiction. Death counts may not be a pleasant thing to think about, but they are vital for evaluating the severity of substance abuse in a given area. The most recent data shows signs that the “worst” of the epidemic may be over, but since 2016, addiction-related deaths have generally climbed higher. [2] The table below shows how deaths involving all drugs (including alcohol) have changed in the area over the past few years in Floyd County:

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first quarter of the year.

Like many cities in Indiana, New Albany recorded its highest number of substance abuse deaths during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022. Between 2016 and 2022, the number of annual deaths nearly doubled. However, the provisional data for 2023 shows that there were just 11 substance abuse deaths for the entire year. While this data could be revised in the near future, such a low number is a positive sign that substance abuse is in decline in all of Floyd County.

However, deaths are not the only indication of a substance abuse crisis. Many people abuse drugs and alcohol for years, and it’s not as easy to track these cases with fatality data alone. One factor that can help provide useful information is the prevalence of non-fatal overdoses. These tend to be more common in New Albany, and they are more easily tracked via local hospital records. 

The table below shows the hospital discharges involving drug overdoses in Floyd County between 2016 and 2023: [3]

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first quarter of the year.

Overdose hospital discharges have been consistently high in Floyd County over the past few years. That said, the numbers have fluctuated somewhat from year to year, making it more difficult to detect a positive or negative trend. 2022 saw fewer overdose hospital discharges than 2016, and the provisional data for 2023 is even more promising. However, it remains to be seen if this downward trend in overdose hospital charges will continue in 2024 and beyond.

Types of Substance Abuse in New Albany

In 2022, meth, heroin, and alcohol were the most abused drugs in Floyd County and New Albany. Arrest records are yet another good indicator of substance abuse and they provide further insight into the types of substances that are being abused. Here is the latest data from Indiana’s Next Level Recovery program showing the arrests involving different kinds of addictive substances between 2016 and 2023 in Floyd County:

*Statistics for 2023 are still preliminary and do not account for the entire calendar year.

Total arrests have declined over the past few years, but this doesn’t mean that addictive behavior has become less prevalent; residents of New Albany could simply be getting better at hiding their addictions from authorities. Despite the decrease in substance abuse-related arrests between 2016 and 2022, meth, prescription opioid, and drug paraphernalia arrests (often associated with heroin abuse) have all increased substantially. Preliminary data for 2023 shows lower arrest rates across the board, with the exception of marijuana-related offenses. However, we don’t yet know what the final figures will look like for 2023, or how these numbers will trend upward or downward in 2024 and beyond.