NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

In general, currently available marijuana is of variable
quality. The abundance and popularity of marijuana
across the city has led to an increased array of
varieties and prices. Marijuana prices, which remained
level since the June 2003 report, ranged from
$650 to $4,000 per pound, depending on the type and
quality. Ounces typically sold for about $80−$250.
On the street, marijuana was most often sold in bags
for $5–$20 or as blunts. The NDIC reported the following
prices for marijuana in Chicago in 2003:
$900–$1,200 per pound, $50–$75 per ounce, and $3–
$5 per gram.
Street-level reports indicate that some marijuana users
believe that hydroponic marijuana grown to contain
other drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and phencyclidine
(PCP), is available.
Both ISP and NFLIS laboratories analyzed more
marijuana samples than any other drug. Forty-seven
percent of drug samples analyzed by the NFLIS for
Chicago were identified as cannabis.
Stimulants
Methamphetamine (“speed”) use in Chicago remains
low, but it may be increasing in some areas of the city.
The number of methamphetamine ED mentions had
been slowly increasing during the 1990s, but such
mentions remained stable between 2001 and 2002,
when they totaled 45 and 42, respectively. Preliminary
unweighted data accessed from DAWN Live!
show 21 methamphetamine reports in 2003 and 45
reports in 2004. The majority of the 2004 reports
involved males (82 percent), Whites (53 percent), and
those age 25–45.
Methamphetamine calls to the Illinois Poison Center
in Chicago are infrequent: 8 calls in 2001, 14 in
2002, and 7 in 2003.
Amphetamine ED mentions increased significantly
between 1995 (144) and 2002 (415). In 2002, the rate
of amphetamine ED mentions per 100,000 population
(7) was higher than for methamphetamine (1), as has
been observed in previous years (exhibit 1).
Stimulants accounted for nearly 4 percent of all State
treatment episodes (excluding primary abuse of alcohol
only) in FYs 2001 and 2002, up from 2 percent in FY
2000. In FY 2003, DASA began reporting methamphetamine
and amphetamine treatment episodes separately.
Methamphetamine treatment episodes (3,582)
outnumbered those for amphetamines (476). Of the
3,582 statewide methamphetamine treatment episodes,
EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—Chicago
only 35 were reported for Chicago, supporting current
reports of low use in Chicago compared to the rest of
the State. Most treatment episodes for methamphetamine
involved Whites (97 percent) and males (58 percent);
a similar trend was observed for amphetamine
patients (87 and 56 percent, respectively).
According to 2002 ADAM data, only 0.3 percent of
male arrestees in Chicago tested positive for methamphetamine,
but 1.0 percent tested positive during the
first quarter of 2003, suggesting an increase in use.
The 2003 YRBSS data indicated that 3.7 percent of
high school students in Chicago used methamphetamine
one or more times during their life. Male students
were nearly six times more likely to have tried
methamphetamine than female students. The YRBSS
began to report methamphetamine use in 1999, when
4.2 percent of students admitted lifetime use. The percentage
of methamphetamine use among students decreased
in 2001 to 2.8 percent, before increasing
slightly in 2003.
Data from the ISP indicated that more methamphetamine
continued to be seized than cocaine or heroin
in nearly 50 percent of Illinois counties in 2004. In
2004, the amount of methamphetamine received by ISP
from Cook County was about 8 kilograms, while the
total methamphetamine received from all Illinois counties
was at about 24 kilograms, similar to the previous
year. According to the NFLIS 2004 report, 0.36 percent
of the items analyzed in Chicago were methamphetamine,
which is a slight increase from 0.21 percent reported
the year before.
According to ICJIA, the number of methamphetaminerelated
arrests in Illinois increased significantly between
1997 (3 arrests) and 2003 (1,112 arrests). While
methamphetamine arrests increased across all regions
during this period, rural task force units experienced the
greatest increase in arrests (from 0 to 514 arrests), followed
by mixed urban/rural units (from 3 to 373 arrests)
and by mostly urban units (from 0 to 225 arrests).
Within Chicago, a low but stable prevalence of
methamphetamine use has been reported in some areas
of the city in the past 5 years, especially on the North
Side, where young gay men, homeless youth, and
White clubgoers congregate. Of note, ethnographic data
suggest that methamphetamine availability has increased
substantially since June 2001 among at least
some networks of gay White men on the North Side,
who may use the drug to enhance sexual experiences.
There were also reports from persons who said they
began using methamphetamine to lose weight but became
addicted to the drug.
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005 57