New meth surge could hit wider area than opioids

By Christine Vestal

Published 2:48 pm, Sunday, May 21, 2017

WASHINGTON — The opioid epidemic has killed tens of thousands over the past two years and driven major reforms in state and local law enforcement and public health policies for people with addiction.

But another deadly but popular drug, methamphetamine, also has been surging in many parts of the country. And federal officials say that, based on what they learned as opioids swept the U.S., methamphetamine is likely to spread even further.

From Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma to Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota and all across the South, inexpensive methamphetamine is flowing in from Mexico, fueling what police and epidemiologists say is an alarming increase in the number of people using the drug and dying from it.

Nationwide, regular use of the inexpensive and widely available illicit stimulant increased from 3 to 4 percent of the population between 2010 and 2015, according to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In 2015, the most recent year for which federal data are available, nearly 4,900 meth users died of an overdose, a 30 percent jump in one year.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/New-meth-surge-could-hit-wider-area-than-opioids-11162729.php