The heaviest abuse of meth (street methamphetamine) appears to occur in parts of Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States. There are about 24.7 million amphetamine-type stimulant abusers worldwide. Most of the methamphetamine abused on the street worldwide is manufactured in private laboratories. “To put into a bit of context, the study was from 2017 and in fact since that time methamphetamine use in South Australia has actually been on the decrease,” Dr Bade said. Researchers mapped the use of amphetamine, methamphetamine (also known as ice), ecstasy and cocaine.
The rise of the meth epidemic was built largely on economic policies, political decisions, and the recent development of American cultural history.” In Tulsa County, Oklahoma, police identified 979 contaminated meth lab sites — the most of any county in the nation. In a 26-month period, The Tulsa Police Dept. cleaned up 690 labs at a cost of $118,560,000. Analysis of wastewater suggests many cities in these areas have seen increases in methamphetamine use (see below). The highest concentrations of methamphetamine use appear to be in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and East Germany as well as some cities of Finland.
Outside of labs, the Missouri State Highway Patrol seized 37,295 ounces of methamphetamine in 2011. Since exploding onto the American drug scene in the 1980s, meth has spread rapidly across the U.S, but we haven’t nailed down a single stronghold for it. In 2005, an analysis by Slate.com showed that U.S. newspapers had used the title “Meth Capitol of the World” to describe over 70 different American towns, cities, and countries, from California to New York. A recent article in Time reported that more than 7 percent of adults in Australia (more than 1.3 million Australians) have reported they have tried meth, with about 400,000 adults reporting using meth within the month before the survey. This would qualify as one of the highest rates of meth abuse in the entire world.
Europe
Potency refers to the dosage needed to affect a person, while purity is the amount of drug in a given sample. The United States consumes more illicit drugs than any other country. It is estimated that approximately six percent of people in the United States use illegal drugs. Several other countries, including Greenland, the United Kingdom, and Mongolia, have rates of illegal drug use over five percent. The DEA office in Greensboro reported having a 2,000% increase in meth seizures since the fiscal year 2017.
- Afghanistan may not be the world’s leading producer of opium for much longer.
- As Reding writes in Methland, “In truth, all drug epidemics are only in part about the drugs.
- Adelaide, Canberra and Toowoomba were the three Australian cities out of 120 worldwide to have their sewage monitored in the study of 60 million people between 2011 and 2017.
- The DEA office in Greensboro reported having a 2,000% increase in meth seizures since the fiscal year 2017.
- Neighborhoods suffer from the devastating effects of systemic violence, meth trafficking, and dealing.
$100m drug sting: Shipment of 99kg of meth stuffed in pillows intercepted at WA port
Adderall is used in the United States to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but is widely abused. Often referred to as “the study buddy,” as many as five million people take Adderall annually without a prescription, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Mexican drug trafficking groups are sourcing largely industrial grade precursors from China or India and working in mega-labs or clandestine labs that allow them to produce much better product,” Pardo told InSight Crime. Exact figures on drug use are difficult to obtain, experts say, since surveys of consumers belie the use of stigmatized drugs like methamphetamine. Data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has already confirmed that Adelaide is the meth capital of the nation, but studies show usage is on the decline in South Australia. In 2002, the Los Angeles Times (twice) called the Inland Empire of Riverside and San Berdo the capital.
It’s also unclear where these groups are getting the chemicals to make P2P. The most recent seizure data from 2018 from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) cited China as the source of some of the largest recent seizures of precursors, and Mexico as the place where the largest seizures took place. The DEA’s 2020 Drug Threat Assessment also cited China and India as sources for precursors, but counterdrug officials contacted by InSight Crime said the chemicals were coming from many other places as well, including Germany. Multiple theories exist as to why the United States has a high rate of illegal drug use. One hypothesis posits that because drugs are so harshly prosecuted in the United States, it creates the allure of a “forbidden fruit,” which entices people to get involved in drug use at a young age.
Central and South America
Dr Bade said methamphetamine use was linked to several health conditions, including mental disorders, elevated heart rates and domestic violence. Adelaide has recorded the highest methamphetamine use of all the cities in the world Toxic cane toads pose threat to people, pets compared in a paper based on wastewater samples. “We have drug trafficking organizations, cartels in Mexico, that are making a business decision now to manufacture pills, Adderall pills, made with nothing but methamphetamine,” he said during the press conference. The competition may also be fueling at least some of the record violence in Mexico, which reached 27 homicides per 100,000 people in 2020. Some of the worst violence took place in the small state of Colima, home to the Port of Manzanillo, a main entry point for precursor chemicals.
In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated the foreign-born population at 46.2 million, or nearly 14% of the total, with most states seeing double-digit percentage increases in the last dozen years. While FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, there is no evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. Studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. Hitting a familiar theme from the campaign trail and his first term in office, Trump portrayed the country’s borders as insecure and immigrants as contributing to crime and the fentanyl crisis.
The most commonly consumed drugs in the world include alcohol and cannabis/marijuana. Although these substances are legal to a certain degree in the vast majority of countries, they can still lead to a number of negative outcomes and health problems if abused. Outside of alcoholic beverages, cannabis is the most widely cultivated possibly illicit drug in the world. According to the United Nations 2022 World Drug Report, cannabis is cultivated in 154 of the world’s countries and territories, with opium, the next-most-prolifically cultivated drug, in 57 countries.
It’s a problem, yes, but it’s not about meth — it’s about something greater. As Reding writes in Methland, “In truth, all drug epidemics are only in part about the drugs. Meth is indeed uniquely suited to Middle America, though this is only tangentially related to the idea that it can be made in the sink.