Meth Drug Rehabs
The use, abuse and addiction
to methamphetamines spread like wildfire across much of the country during the
first part of this decade. Usage rates shot up and rehabs filled up. Despite
seeing a recent decline in overall use, the signs of meth addiction are still
very prevalent throughout the nation in both urban and rural areas and the need
for successful rehabilitation for meth use is still very strong.
In recent years more states have adopted anti-meth manufacturing laws restricting the sale of methamphetamine precursors used in small labs such as ephedrine-based products, requring a photo ID and registration of purchases as well as limits to amounts that can be obtained.
Meth trafficking and availability information
The trafficking and abuse
of methamphetamine--a leading drug threat in western states since the early
1990s--have gradually expanded eastward, reaching the point where the drug now
impacts every region of the country, although to a much lesser extent in the
Northeast Region. In the early 1990s methamphetamine trafficking was an evident
threat to California drug markets such as Fresno, Los Angeles,
Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco. By the mid-1990s that threat had
expanded to other drug markets, including Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle,
and Yakima, Washington. By the late 1990s and early 2000s--as methamphetamine
production and distribution remained very high in western states
The eastward expansion of the drug took a particular toll on central states such as Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Increased methamphetamine trafficking in these states, often in rural areas, is evidenced by a 126 percent increase (1,601 to 3,620) in reported methamphetamine laboratory seizures and an 87 percent increase (10,145 to 18,951) in methamphetamine-related treatment admissions from 1999 through 2003. Since 2003 methamphetamine trafficking has expanded farther east to areas such as southern Michigan, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. The eastward expansion of methamphetamine trafficking and abuse has recently slowed because increasing regulation of the sale and use of chemicals used in methamphetamine production, particularly pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, has substantially decreased domestic production.