Answer Addiction

Tag: meth-related deaths

  • A Meth Crisis Is Growing In The Shadow Of The Opioid Epidemic

    A Meth Crisis Is Growing In The Shadow Of The Opioid Epidemic

    Meth-related deaths quadrupled from 2011 to 2017.

    Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine have more than quadrupled from 2011 to 2017 and authorities are struggling to keep up with the increases in addiction and erratic behavior caused by the drug.

    However, these alarming statistics have been overshadowed by the opioid epidemic and funding to address the problem has been sorely lacking.

    Drug trends tend to go back and forth from stimulants to depressants, and the public’s focus and efforts to combat addiction and overdose shift with time.

    As signs that the opioid epidemic may be leveling out have appeared and information campaigns have successfully warned people away from dangerous amounts of these depressants, meth use has become almost socially acceptable in some areas.

    According to “Kim,” a woman interviewed by NPR who has struggled with meth addiction for many years, the taboo against taking this intense stimulant has lessened over the years.

    “Now what I see, in any neighborhood, you can find it,” she said. “It’s not the same as it used to be where it was kind of taboo. It’s more socially accepted now.”

    Part of the reason the growing meth problem across the Midwest and West Coast has been overshadowed is likely because meth overdose is significantly less likely to end in death compared to opioid overdose.

    Opioids depress the central nervous system, and too much physical depression can cause an individual to stop breathing. With stimulants like meth, death is usually caused by a heart attack or brain hemorrhage or as a result of mixing the drug with depressants, including opioids.

    Reports of deaths from batches of meth contaminated with fentanyl have been increasing over the past year. Authorities believe that illicit drug manufacturers are handling meth on the same surfaces touched by the highly potent opioid, as tiny amounts of fentanyl can be enough to cause an overdose. Stimulants can also hide the signs of opioid overdose, so mixing the two can be especially dangerous.

    “Folks that are doing hardcore illicit drugs can be pretty fussy, too,” says University of California’s Dr. Daniel Ciccarone. “And most meth users really, really, really, really don’t want an unbeknownst fentanyl put into their methamphetamine.”

    At the same time, a higher number of older adults appear to be experimenting with meth. According to the program manager of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Positive Reinforcement Opportunity Project, Rick Andrews, this may be due to the fact that older gay men were too nervous about HIV to engage in much drug use in their youth and are looking to make up for it.

    Older tissue can’t stand up to the high blood pressure and heart rates associated with stimulants in the way that young tissue can, resulting in more strokes and heart attacks.

    “They feel like they’ve missed out and they want to have a little fun and make up for lost time maybe,” Andrews said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Meth Makes A Rural Comeback In The Shadow Of The Opioid Crisis

    Meth Makes A Rural Comeback In The Shadow Of The Opioid Crisis

    “They came in with much purer, much cheaper meth and just flooded this region of the country,” says one DEA agent.

    While the opioid epidemic has been at the forefront of headlines and national attention, another danger has also been growing in the background: the use of methamphetamine in small, rural areas of the country. 

    According to Rolling Stone, meth was previously prominent in the 1990s due to “new synthesizing methods,” which allowed individuals to use cold medicine and cleaning products to create the drug in their homes.

    Eventually, due to limiting over-the-counter access to certain medications via the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (2006), domestic meth lab seizures dropped drastically. 

    However, this wasn’t because meth ceased to exist, Rolling Stone notes. Instead, the market reportedly shifted to Mexico, where “superlabs” managed by Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel can create a large quantity of the drug in pure form and at cheap rates. 

    Such superlabs can cook hundreds of pounds of meth daily and at 95 to 99% purity. And, according to CNN, an ounce of meth today goes for $250 to $450 in Oklahoma, versus the $1,100 it cost in 2012. Similar price drops have been reported in Virginia, Ohio and Florida.

    In addition to price drops, certain states are also seeing increases in meth-related deaths. In Oklahoma, fatal meth overdoses have doubled in just five years. 

    “They came in with much purer, much cheaper meth and just flooded this region of the country,” DEA Agent Richard Salter told CNN. 

    Oklahoma isn’t alone. In Alaska, Rolling Stone reports, meth overdoses quadrupled in the eight years between 2008 and 2016. Florida, according to the Department of Law Enforcement’s 2016 report, is seeing fatal overdoses four times higher than they were six years ago. And, according to a recent report, meth seizures have tripled within two years in Southwest Virginia.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that meth seizures have increased tenfold in the past eight years—from 8,900 pounds in 2010 to about 82,000 pounds so far this year. Despite that fact, the drug is still making its way into U.S. states like California and Arizona, then being taken to distribution areas like Atlanta.

    From there, it makes its way into smaller, rural areas. 

    Mark Woodward, spokesman with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, tells CNN that while attention is being directed to the opioid epidemic, meth is being left behind. 

    “There’s so much attention—not just in Oklahoma, but nationwide—on the opioid crisis,” Woodward said. “But our single most deadly individual drug is methamphetamine.”

    View the original article at thefix.com