Crystal Meth Addiction Treatment

For the first time ever, science has teamed up with several government agencies to track the occurrence of illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine. The outcome: statistical data on high-risk areas that are more likely to house laboratories and their number-one customers… addicts.

Normally a science reserved for monitoring the outbreak and spread of disease, epidemiology has proven to be a very effective tool for studying the black-market avenues by which meth labs thrive.

New Experiment Identifies Locations of Deadly Meth Labs

Dr. Daniel Sudakin, epidemiologist, medical toxicologist, associate professor at Oregon State University, and author of the study, assimilated over 2500 incidents on record at the state’s poison control center, medical examiner’s office, narcotics enforcement division and hazardous substances surveillance system.

Data related to methamphetamine deaths, manufacturing labs, toxic fumes, accidental ingestion of the chemical ingredients, by-product waste dumps, and drug overdoses spanning the past nine years were entered into a special computer program to look for clusters of locations and/or time frames of activity.

The Importance of Consolidated Investigations

“This OSU study incorporates information about when and where these incidents occurred, giving us a bigger picture of what’s going on across the state,” Sudakin explains. “It also includes rural areas, which tend not to be studied as much as urban areas in terms of meth use and production.”

Using the technology, counties with the most incidents of meth-related activity were quickly identified as local hot-spots – primarily rural, sparsely-populated, agricultural areas of the state. By studying the patterns from an epidemiologist’s perspective, researchers, law enforcement officials, and health care specialists can gain a better understanding of how and where to focus their resources.

So along with the 2005 law that requires prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, Oregon health officials will now be better able to provide drug prevention and addiction treatment information to individuals in rural towns. Knowing the dangers that the dealer’s won’t tell you about is the next step, and having access to affordable rehab when the dangers have been ignored is the second.

Tell Us: Do you think technology like this could be effective for combating other types of drug addictions?