Newsbrief:
What
Meth
Epidemic?
National
Survey
Shows
Amphetamine
Use
Unchanged
from
Year
Earlier
2/11/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/374/whatepidemic.shtml
About 1.2 million people
reported using methamphetamine or prescription stimulants for non-medical
reasons in 2003, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration's (SAMSA) annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health,
the agency reported on February 4th. In a
special report on stimulant use, SAMSHA found that over 20 million
Americans have used either methamphetamine, prescription amphetamine diet
pills, or attention deficit disorder amphetamines such as Dexedrine and
Ritalin for non-medical purposes during their lifetimes.
While the SAMSHA report did
not compare 2003 usage with previous years, earlier
annual reports from the agency show that the number of speed users
that year was virtually unchanged from 2002. A
close reading of the SAMSHA numbers over the past few years appears
to indicate that the increase in stimulant use plateaued early in the millennium
after escalating through the late 1990s.
According to the survey,
formerly known as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, some 12
million people reported using methamphetamine at least once in their lifetimes,
while an additional 8.7 million reported lifetime use of prescription stimulants
for non-medical reasons. SAMSHA placed the number of people dependent
on abusing stimulants in 2003 at around 378,000.
The SAMSHA data suggests
that some of the rhetoric surrounding the "epidemic" of methamphetamine
use is overblown. An epidemic where the numbers affected do not increase
from year to year is not much of an epidemic. Nor does the much-vaunted
addictiveness of methamphetamine seem to stand up to the numbers.
With 12 million lifetime users and 1.2 million users in the last year,
only about 25% of last year users meet the SAMSHA's criteria for dependency
or abuse and only 2.5% of lifetime users meet that criteria.
-- END --
Issue #374
-- 2/11/05
Editorial:
A
Cautious
First
Step
|
First
North
American
Heroin
Maintenance
Study
Now
Underway
in
Vancouver
|
DRCNet
Interview:
Marijuana
Policy
Project
Director
Rob
Kampia
|
DRCNet
Book
Review:
"It's
Just
a
Plant,"
by
Ricardo
Cortes
(2005,
Magic
Propaganda
Mill,
$17.95
HB)
|
Drug
War
Chronicle's
Phil
Smith
Featured
in
New
Book
--
"Under
The
Influence"
Available
as
DRCNet
Premium
|
Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Newsbrief:
Memphis
Taxpayers
to
Pay
Big
Time
for
Police
Drug
Raid
Killing
|
Newsbrief:
Bush
Budget
Slashes
Funds
for
Local
Police,
Increases
DEA
Funding
|
Newsbrief:
What
Meth
Epidemic?
National
Survey
Shows
Amphetamine
Use
Unchanged
from
Year
Earlier
|
Newsbrief:
Death
Squad
Killings
Spike
Upward
in
Davao
|
Newsbrief:
Indian
Government
Blinks
in
Face
of
Threatened
Drug
Shortage
|
Newsbrief:
Marijuana
Reform
Under
Attack
in
Western
Australia
|
Newsbrief:
Bob
Marley
Birthday
Bash
in
Addis
Ababa
Comes
Off
Without
a
Hitch
|
Newsbrief:
London
Police
Chief
Ramps
Up
Rhetorical
War
on
Middle-Class
Cocaine
Use
|
Web
Scan:
Debra
Saunders,
Drug
War
Carol,
DPA
Web
Chat,
Drug
Truth
Radio
|
This
Week
in
History
|
Errata:
Meth
Bill
Sponsor
|
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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