Study: Meth use rare in most of the U.S.

[Kadie]

Study: Meth use rare in most of the U.S.
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Methamphetamine use is rare in most of the United States, not the raging epidemic described by politicians and the news media, says a study by an advocacy group.

Meth is a dangerous drug but among the least commonly used, The Sentencing Project policy analyst Ryan King wrote in a report issued Wednesday. Rates of use have been stable since 1999, and among teenagers meth use has dropped, King said.

"The portrayal of methamphetamine in the United States as an epidemic spreading across the country has been grossly overstated," King said. The Sentencing Project is a not-for-profit group that supports alternatives to prison terms for convicted drug users and other criminals.

Overheated rhetoric, unsupported assertions and factual errors about the use of the drug — including frequent, misguided comparisons between meth and crack cocaine — lead to poor decisions about how to spend precious public dollars combating drug addiction, King said.

snip...
But nationally, just 5 percent of men who had been arrested had meth in their systems. By contrast, 30 percent tested positive for cocaine and 44 percent for marijuana, the report said, citing government statistics.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060614/ap_on_he_me/meth_myths_4

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[havocmom]

2. Pot stays in fat cells so that will tend to keep it showing up

Anybody know about coke and meth?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. coke and meth are about the same.... 3-4 days

however, I passed a pee test once while I was on meth, it was probably a fluke.

[Rex]

5. This is based on the time of arrest.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/People/injury/research/job185drugs/methamphetamine.htm

Looks like is stays in a persons system from 1-4 days. I would think people would prefer other drugs after seeing someone strung out on meth, like a 3 week bender.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. You must be right.

I'm sure they never would have thought of that.

:eyes:

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tempest]

3. Meth use is concentrated in the south and in conservative areas of CA

The conservative interior valley of California has a big problem with meth use and production. Arrests and seizures are way up in the last couple of years.

And there's a report out that shows meth use is mostly a southern state problem.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. It's a big problem in the northwest too. n/t

[Jed Dilligan]

34. And Hawaii.

When you go to a meth hotspot, it's pretty fucking unmistakable... Don't forget to lock your car!

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. It'sa huge problem here in the midwest

especially in rural areas.

[dysfunctional press]

46. not in chicago...

which of course isn't rural.

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. They have shut down most of the meth labs here in the metro area

but there are a ton of them all over rural MO and KS.

[dysfunctional press]

48. i can't remember ever hearing about one being busted around here...

not that it hasn't happened- maybe it has, and i just didn't hear about it...but it's never been a big problem at all in this area.
maybe some up in lake county or mchenry- or some of the other outlying rural counties- but it's definitely nothing like an epidemic in our part of the midwest.

[brook]

4. Oh puhlease.......

Overheated rhetoric, unsupported assertions and factual errors about the use of the drug — including frequent, misguided comparisons between meth and crack cocaine — lead to poor decisions about how to spend precious public dollars combating drug addiction, King said."

Doesn't sound like these guys spent any time out in rural counties like mine - or talking with friends, families and loved ones about living with a meth user.

[High Plains]

11. Oh, please, that's precisely the point the study was making.

They may be tweaking in the rural areas of the West and Midwest, but this is NOT a nationwide "epidemic." I've looked at the federal government's use numbers myself,and I invite you to do the same. Just Google "national household survey drugs" or "monitoring the future."

Interestingly, the number of people in treatment for meth has increased 10-fold in the past decade, but they still account for only 7% of people in treatment. And more than half of them are in treatment not because they sought it out but because they were ordered there by a court.

[havocmom]

22. Would a meth user have a specific order about them?

Due to the chemicals used to make the stuff? What sort of behaviors are common in meth users?

We have a bunch of busy bodies yakking about who is town "is DEFINITELY on meth". The folks they named seem more like boozers or pot users to me. Then there are the handful who behave like coke users I has the misfortune to have to put up with a few years back.

Those different drugs seem to create entirely different common behaviors in users. But the gossip mongers are SURE all these people are meth users. My bet is they haven't got a clue about how long term use of various drugs affects people. They think the guy I know is a pot head AND the hostile, hyper coke whore are both meth users.

Then they all go drink themselves silly while they gossip :eyes:

Remember back in the days of Bush I? Crack in the 'hood... it would make everyone have no moral center, no conscious? Hell, they were talking about BFEE and not the kids in the 'hood!

My guess: They KNOW crime is gonna get worse. It tends to do than when the economy tanks (like in Bush I days). They want people to be conditioned to accept the drug excuse for it instead of looking at other causes, like desperation, frustration, trying to work 3 jobs and still sinking.... Meth will be the scape goat for the jump in violent crime. The TV spots are conditioning the masses to believe it. Judging from the fools in the Local Gossip Society, the ad campaign is working. The only crime around here is the usual: drunk driving, the same group of domestic abusers (booze again, combined with bibles), and bored pre-pubescent kids with too much idle time and not enough supervision setting small fires and stealing each other's bikes. But WE HAVE A METH PROBLEM!!

Maybe, but we definitely have a BS problem in our little corner of the world.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. "busy bodies"

Interesting. I was just thinking of the exact same term.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

26. odor? yes

I can smell it on people, especially when they're sweating. sets off my old triggers. :(

users are hyper. I knew one girl that needed 4 square feet to stand still.

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. We have had a couple kids at my school who were living in meth labs

Here's how we figured it out - their clothes stink like cat urine. And the smell won't wash out.

Our local county drug task force did in-service for schools and told us about this peculiarity. So when we have a kid at school who smells like cat pee, we wash his clothes and if the smell doesn't wash out, we hotline it. And the follow up investigation showed the few families we reported for this were definitely running meth labs.

[havocmom]

52. Thanks for all the info (you and others who answered my questions)

Can't help but giggle though, at the thought of washing stinky clothes to see if smell comes out. Um what happens to stinky kid while duds being sudsed?

(Forgive me, I know it's a serious problem, but it's been a very bad week already around my 'hood. My mind is seeking comedy relief.)

Oh, and smell from real cat pee is damned stubborn and usually takes special chemicals to remove from ANYTHING so I wonder about that being a sure fire way to tell.

But I thought there was the bad smell thing with meth. Thanks for describing it for me. Now I can one-up the busy body brigade with my knowledge. They are branding anyone they don't quite approve of as a 'meth user' and I know they are full of it.

But, hey, it does give folks something to scape goat for all the crime increase.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. Every elementary school has extra clothes on hand

We do tend to have a child who has an 'accident' once in a while. As for the smell, it really does wash out if it just cat pee. Maybe they use a special additive or something. I don't do the washing, our nurse does. But like I said, the kids who wore clothes that still stank after being washed were indeed living in a house with a meth lab.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. I'm not the least bit surprised.

That recent Frontline was so full of crap it reminded me of every anti-drug film I've ever seen.

[aikoaiko]

9. Very possible that meth use became the new LEO boogie man...

...for funding purposes. Or maybe the data aren't reflective of reality. Its possible that it is not hitting the empirical radar like the other drugs do. not that I can offer a speculative explanation for that.

[dysfunctional press]

10. i don't know a single person who does meth...

or even where i could get some if i wanted it.

i even asked my pot dealer, and he doesn't know of any either...although he has the sources that he could probably find it if he was so inclined.

[Demobrat]

13. If I wanted meth,

which I don't, I would make a phone call and have some delivered.

[Warpy]

17. The people's pharmacy

is a block and a half from me, opens as soon as the sun goes down.

[IselaB]

14. I don't know. All I can say is that it's devastating lives left and right

where I live (California). Half the people I know are struggling with meth addiction, including at least three family members.

[ikojo]

15. Oh yes, but saying there is a meth "crisis" will encourage

people to give up more of their rights! Gotta manufacture a crisis. In one of the St Charles County school districs they are considering drug testing every high school student.


http://ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=98550

Mandatory Drug Tests Could Soon Be Reality In Francis Howell District

If approved, this would be the first mandatory policy. Random drug testing could potentially involve more than eight-thousand students.

Mandatory testing will be limited to athletes and those involved in any extra-curricular activity.

Francis Howell Central High Schools' Dean of Students and head football coach Todd Buerck says voluntary testing would apply to middle school students.

Here's how the program would work:
-Each week, students would be randomly selected to provide urine samples.
-Students would be tested for many drugs including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and anabolic steroids.
-A positive test would result in a student being temporarily suspended from his or her athletic or other activity.
-They will receive free counseling.

[IselaB]

20. You know, at this point

bringing up drug testing when discussing threats to civil right seems almost quaint. How I long for the golden days of yore when the greatest threat to my civil liberties was drug testing.

[Hestia]

21. And what company/lab is making money off of the mandatory testing?

Follow the money.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. I think it's something to do with the insurance companies.

But I don't know the details.

[Warpy]

16. And how many for ALCOHOL????

That's the real problem. My guess is THAT figure approaches 90%. Trust me, violent guys with pot in their systems are WAY over the effects of that drug. The most violence anyone under the influence of pot is going to commit is against a bag of Cheetos.

Meth is an epidemic in PARTS of the country, especially flyover country. It's a huge problem in NM, especially in the more rural and exurban areas. It's a bathtub drug and relatively cheap and the high lasts all day. So what if it ages you at light speed, rots your teeth, makes your hair fall out, screws up your skin and drives you batshit crazy?

If you're isolated and financially desperate, it looks like a good tradeoff.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. Impact of Drug Policy

Impact of Drug Policy

As a result of the shift in law enforcement and sentencing practice brought about by the "war on drugs," the last two decades have witnessed an American correctional system that has experienced dramatic growth in inmates convicted of a drug offense. {see chart} At the Federal level, prisoners incarcerated on a drug charge make up nearly 60% of all inmates. Since 1980, the number of drug offenders in state prisons has increased thirteen-fold, and drug offenders now comprise one-fifth of all state prisoners. Most of these persons are not high-level actors in the drug trade, and most have no prior criminal record for a violent offense. There is scant empirical evidence suggesting that this "get tough" policy has had any appreciable effect on stemming the flow of drugs into the country or decreasing the use of illicit narcotics. An increasing body of research also indicates that treatment and diversion from prison demonstrate far better results in reducing drug abuse and drug-related crime.

http://www.sentencingproject.org/issues_09.cfm

[ret5hd]

19. All my life it's been one drug scare or another...

the heroin epidemic
the acid epidemic
the ecstacy epidemic
the cocaine epidemic
the marijuana epidemic
the crack epidemic
the pcp epidemic
the meth epidemic
the oxycontin epidemic (well, it turned out rush was responsible for aprox 40% of the nations consumption)
the "inhalents" epidemic

MY GOD! I'm surprised the nation hasn't come to a complete standstill for lack of functionng adults!

yet, by the studies i've seen, drug use (both casual and the oh-not-so-casual) has remained pretty steady throughout those years. There are a percentage of people that are going to experiment, there are a percentage of people that are going to go a little farther than simple experimentation, and there are a percentage, relatively small, that are going to become addicted.

And the numbers are surprisingly (to some) stable across race...about 14% of blacks and 14% of whites regularly use drugs. I wonder why, since racial discrimination has been eliminated in this country (according to some) such a high percentage of blacks compared to whites are in prison on drug charges???

Drug "epidemics" are just another scare tactic our gov't uses to keep us afraid of our neighbors and an excuse to keep certain "undesirables" locked up.

[DemNoir]

30. You sound like someone with no personal experience

I have had to deal with large numbers of Meth addicts, all rich white kids. It is big in D.C. and is quickly sweeping up the east coast.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. He sounds like somebody who uses factual evidence....

versus anecdotal evidence.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. Yeah, well, that's the thing about anecdotal evidence.

It really doesn't matter how many anecdotes you've got.

[ret5hd]

44. Ha! NO personal experience...HA! Again...HA!

[tridim]

32. The crazy thing is, all those drugs except the synthetics..

have been used as medicine in the recent past.

It's weird to think that drugs have been used legally throughout the entirety of human history. They've only been illegal in America for about 80 years (and really illegal since 1970), and the only measurable net result is thousands of non-violent people locked in prison.

[havocmom]

53. Prisons are good for corporations, by the way. They work cheap

and you get to slap a "Proudly Made in the USA" label on your product, maybe even charge an extra buck, which people will pay, thinking they are supporting American workers.

Corporations like having a large prison population full of younger, non-violent offenders. States actually bid out the labors of their prison populations. THEY COMPETE to get the little scraps of corporate spending.

[tridim]

25. Have you ever watched "Intervention" on A&E?

I have no idea if the usage numbers are accurate, but based on what I've seen the problems associated with addiction are very real. It's not just the legal issues that hurt meth addicts.

Check it out some time.. It's a very well done show, although a bit depressing sometimes.
http://www.aetv.com/intervention/index.jsp

[tjwash]

27. ALL HAIL RONALD REAGANS WAR ON DRUGS!!

Yes. And the war is over in Iraq, and they aren't building 12 permanent military bases and a gaudily huge embassy over there, and George Bush is a walking god that deserves our worship because he went over to Iraq yesterday and swaggered around and claimed "mission accomplished" again, and tax cuts for the filthy rich really WILL help the economy, and the election in Florida really wasn't stolen.

I know it's all true, the main stream media reported it. :eyes:

[DemNoir]

28. Meth is Ramapant in D.C.

Ask anyone on a college campus there. Anybody that has ever had contact with a Meth addict knows what total B.S. this article is.

[maveric]

29. Come to San Diego county and then tell me that.

I've never seen so many people using that shit than I have seen here the past 26 years. It so very common and I've seen many lives lost and totally fucked up because of meth.
That report is bullshit.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. But that won't keep it from being used as an excuse for the DEA

to keep waging a $40 Billion a year war on pot smoking cancer grannies and terminally ill pain patients.

[Jed Dilligan]

37. I wonder how race affects these statistics

White guy does meth, doesn't go to jail. Black guy smokes pot, does blow, goes to jail. Anecdotally this seems to be the way things tend to be.

[Arkansas Granny]

40. I don't know where the author of this article lives, but in Arkansas

and Oklahoma meth is a big problem. I've known people who were strung out on it and it's not hard to spot "tweakers" when you go out in public. These figures also suggest a growing problem nationwide.


http://www.samhsa.gov/news/newsreleases/060424_admissions.htm

The local news often reports busting meth labs around here and the use of the drug is pretty common.

[sendero]

42. Wow..

... well, I don't know about the whole US, but in North Texas and OK is eaten up with the shit.

And I fail to see much joy in their numbers anyway.

43. that is reassuring - I had the impression those things were spreading

like wildfire.

[TommyO]

45. Somehow I doubt they'll change the laws

that make me register as a potential criminal for having a sinus condition that response well to Sudafed.

[Moloch]

49. This is really good news...

I know first hand how destructive meth is.. but now I'm clean for two years and never felt better! A lot of people I know haven't been able to get off of it and its really ruined their lives.

[fishwax]

50. you mean we can't trust the gov't to tell us the truth about drugs?

I'm shocked!

[w4rma]

51. Meth use tends to be concentrated in rural areas and it has been spreading

from the west coast states eastward.

[HornBuckler]

54. Chiming in...

Meth users were here when I was in high school -12 yrs ago - and they are here now - big deal. I would have to agree that there hasn't been a significant increase. I went to high school in Las Vegas and now reside in Portland - and I don't see any increase at all. Some folks know half a dozen tweakers in their area and all of a sudden associate it as an epidemic. The fact is, they just didn't know what was going on before/after (depending on the situation). When one is immersed in drug culture you tend to know and spot it a lot easier. That said, I still see all sorts of folks on tweak, and pot, and coke, and heroin, just like before. I do not buy in to the rampant vilification meth has taken lately in the press. Just like a different poster had said 'it's today's crack' it's all just hype and fear tactics. People will get high forever on whatever they can - it's the way the world works.

BTW I do not think meth is all hunky dorey, but people are going to get high, might as well make it legal or at least safe.

[peacebaby3]

55. Well, I work in criminal defense and we see a lot of drug use, period.

Meth use is pretty average, maybe slightly higher over the last few years, but the one thing I have seen a major increase in is prescription drugs. I think they are just as big of a problem as meth.

I hold The Sentencing Project in very high regard. They do an excellent job and I would put a lot of trust in what they have to say. I think there are definitely some "hot spots" and "target groups" for high meth use, but they may very well have a good point about not calling it an epidemic.