A local health research organization recently released an updated report about methamphetamine in Illinois, which identified a downturn in local meth-related activity.
The Center for Health and Justice, a non-profit health and justice research and policy analysis group formed by Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, released ‘Methamphetamine in Illinois,’ which identified local trends over the past decade. The report concluded that meth continues to be a problem in the area and a threat to people’s health and well-being, but applauded statewide efforts to increase treatment and battle local production.
After skyrocketing between 1994 and 2003, lab seizures in the state have continued to decline, in part because of law enforcement crackdown and the 2006 Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act. However, the study also states that while labs seizures have decreased, the quantity of meth seized per year has increased, due primarily to the drug coming in from other areas.
Trends in treatment were also discussed. Over the past decade, publicly-funded treatment admissions have increased dramatically in Illinois. However, the drug has increasingly threatened gay and bisexual men in urban areas.