Assessing pediatric and young adult substance use through analysis of prehospital data.

Introduction: Substance use in young adults is a significant and growing problem. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel often encounter this problem, yet the use of prehospital data to evaluate the prevalence and magnitude of substance abuse has been limited.

Hypothesis/problem: This study evaluated drug and alcohol use through the use of prehospital and EMS data in one suburban county in Maryland (USA).