EDITORIAL: Meth Treatment: Can Nation Get a Grip on Drug Woes?
Posted on: Saturday, 4 March 2006, 12:00 CST
By Tulsa World, Okla.
Mar. 4--The good news about a new report on treatment for methamphetamine addiction shows that users are seeking help. The disturbing news is the extent of methamphetamine use.
From 1993 to 2003, the number of people seeking treatment for methamphetamine abuse more than quadrupled.
Eighteen states, including Oklahoma, have meth treatment rates higher than the national rate.
Initially the drug was produced by local "cooks," but because of new laws tightening up the supply of chemicals used to manufacture illegal meth, local producers are thinning.
Unfortunately, Mexican drug cartels, able to produce a potent product in mass quantities, are controlling the market.
The report's findings show that meth abuse is moving gradually from the West -- where the drug first became popular -- across the Midwest and South to the East Coast.
Northeastern states had low rates of treatment admissions for meth and amphetamine abuse in 1993 and those rates remained low in 2003.
States in the Midwest and South that had few meth abuse patients a decade ago are now seeing a sharp rise in the rate of admissions to treatment centers, according to the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Ser vices Administration.
Nationwide, the admission rate for treatment of methamphetamine or amphetamine addiction rose from 28,000 in 1993 to 136,000 in 2003.
Earlier this year Gov. Brad Henry stepped up the battle on meth by announcing a comprehensive initiative to reduce both supply and demand. His main target is the 800-pound gorilla, foreign drug distributors. He hopes to receive money for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control to put a dozen bilingual undercover officers on the street. Henry also wants to strengthen meth trafficking penalties, implement an education program to warn people about addiction dangers, and fund a treatment program to help Okahomans kick the meth habit.
"Unless we address every front in the war on meth, addiction will continue to grow, leaving death and shattered lives in its wake," Henry said.
"With the initiative, we will catch and imprison the meth kingpins, educate people about the dangers of this insidious drug and try to save those Oklahomans who are hooked on meth."
The Legislature should help him achieve those goals.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.
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Source: Tulsa World
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