America can’t quit its meth habit.
After a brief lull caused by a crackdown on domestic manufacturing techniques, the highly addictive stimulant is blooming across the country again, this time in the shadows of the opioid epidemic.
Because meth kills slowly, and at lower rates, it isn’t getting the attention that many researchers, law enforcement officials and health workers say it deserves. They worry it will eventually overwhelm the country as heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers have.
Some states are fighting both epidemics at once.
“All of a sudden, it’s everywhere again,” Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said.
Schimel commissioned a study of meth in his state, which estimated that its use had jumped by at least 250 percent since 2011, a pace that could overtake heroin. “We are entering another full-blown epidemic with meth,” he said.
Ohio, a focal point of the opioid epidemic, is also battling a meth resurgence, particularly in rural areas, authorities have said. Reports indicate the same happening in Texas, Montana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Iowa and South Dakota
Meth Cases in Wisconsin More than Tripled in 10 Years
Researchers point out that meth addiction has always been a big problem in America. For more http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/twin-plagues-meth-rises-shadow-opioids-n776871