Year: 2007
Type: report
Abstract: This report provides an overview of the methamphetamine problem in the United States.It looks at the history of the problem, trends in use, characteristics of users, adverse effects, trafficking and production and treatment issues.The analysis relies on extensive review of extant literature on the drug, analysis of existing datasets relevant to methamphetamine use, and conversations with law enforcement treatment, and government personnel dealing with the problem. History of Methamphetamine UseAmphetamines, including methamphetamine, were first synthesized in the early part of the 20 th century, although they were not identified for medical use until the 1930s.First manufactured as a bronchial dilator, they were quickly prescribed for a variety of other conditions-narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder, obesity, and fatigue.With an increasing problem of abuse of these drugs due to legal availability and easy access in the 1950s and 1960s, amphetamines/methamphetamine were made Schedule II substances in 1970.Through the next decade, further restrictions on prescriptions and on the precursor chemicals needed for manufacture resulted in reductions in use nationwide.Methamphetamine had faded from a previous national popularity rivaled only by marijuana until reappearing in Hawaii and the West in the 1980s.Trends Throughout the 1990s, methamphetamine use grew steadily in the West and Northwest.By the turn of the millennium, it had reappeared in many areas of the Midwest and South and surfaced to a lesser degree in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic.In the general population, as reflected in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), methamphetamine use rose from just under 2% of the adult population in 1994 to approximately 5% in 2004.Reporting on youth, Monitoring the Future (MTF) reports that amphetamine/methamphetamine use has remained stable over the last decade for both 8 th graders and 12th graders, dropping slightly in 2003.Data from the Youth Behavioral Risk Surveillance System (YBRSS) shows similarly stable, if not slightly declining, numbers of users among youth nationwide.National treatment data from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) on admissions to treatment indicate a steady rise in the number of persons nationwide who enter treatment for methamphetamine abuse.From 1992 to 2002 the rate of treatment admissions for methamphetamine abuse in the U.S. increased fivefold, from less than 1% in 1992 to over 6% in 2003.The Drug Abuse Warning Network emergency room reports show a similar trend nationally: a slight rise from just under 16,000 mentions in 1995 to 17,696 in 2002. Abt Associates Inc. Methamphetamine Use: Lessons Learned iii Abt Associates Inc. Methamphetamine Use: Lessons Learned vOn the retail level, methamphetamine is a new market in some areas and established market in others.In those areas where it is relatively new, it is generally produced by local "cooks" and distributed in a "hand to hand", relational network of people.In areas where the market is well established and the demand is high, more organized networks of producers and distributiors appear to operate. TreatmentMethamphetamine users are seen as some of the most difficult drug treatment patients, due to protracted physiological and psychological problems caused by the drug's impact on neural pathways.Earliest treatment approaches were based on experience with treating cocaine users.Current psychosocial approaches include case management, community reinforcement and the Matrix Model, a manualized protocol of relapse prevention, cognitive approaches, family therapy and incentives.Pharmacotherapies are still under development for stimulant users.Several medications and supportive protocols have been studied in a series of NIDA-supported clinical trials, though no standard pharmacotherapy for meth treatment has yet been finalized. Abt Associates Inc. Methamphetamine Use: Lessons Learned vi
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4233826338