Universal screening is now being recommended to detect extremely dangerous substance abuse. This type of simple screening consists of being alert to the fact that every segment of the population is vulnerable to this problem. About 10% of women age 14 to 44 actually require treatment for addiction.
On the other hand only 15% of those women are receiving this treatment. That is because mostly this problem is unrecognized and undetected. Helpful screening can be accomplished readily by utilizing questions at the National Institute on Drug Abuse website drugabuse.gov/nidamed. Also American Society of Addiction Medicine focuses on this issue . Their website is asam.org. Physicians can utilize brief intervention and motivational interviewing, then refer for treatment.