CEWG January 09 Full Report - National Institute on Drug Abuse

Section IV. Across <strong>CEWG</strong> Areas: Treatment Admissions, Forensic Laboratory Analysis Data, and Average Drug Price and Purity Data
Methamphetamine
• The proportions of primary treatment admissions including primary alcohol admissions for
methamphetamine abuse in 17 reporting <strong>CEWG</strong> areas were especially high in Hawai‘i, San Diego,
and Phoenix, at approximately 33, 32, and 25 percent, respectively. They were also relatively high
in San Francisco and Los Angeles, at approximately 20 and 19 percent, respectively (table 10;
appendix table 1).
• Methamphetamine ranked first in treatment admissions as a percentage of total admissions in
San Diego, and ranked second in Hawai‘i, Los Angeles, and Phoenix (section II, table 2).
• Methamphetamine ranked first among all drugs in proportions of forensic laboratory items
identified in Honolulu in the first half of 2008, and second in Atlanta, Phoenix, and San Diego
(section II, table 1). The largest proportions of methamphetamine items identified were reported
in Honolulu (close to 43 percent), followed by Minneapolis/St. Paul (approximately 27 percent),
Phoenix (approximately 23 percent), and San Diego and Albuquerque (approximately 20
percent each). On the other hand, less than 1–2 percent of drug items identified as containing
methamphetamine were reported in most <strong>CEWG</strong> metropolitan areas east of the Mississippi,
including Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Cincinnati, Miami, Detroit, Baltimore City, Boston,
and Maryland (figure 18; appendix table 2).
Treatment Admission Data on
Methamphetamine
Data on primary methamphetamine treatment
admissions in the first half of 2008 reporting
period were available for 17 <strong>CEWG</strong> areas (table
10). As a percentage of total treatment admissions,
including primary alcohol admissions,
Hawai‘i had the highest proportion of methamphetamine
admissions, at 32.6 percent, followed
by San Diego, at 31.5 percent. In the same
period, primary methamphetamine admissions
accounted for approximately 19–25 percent of
total primary admissions in Phoenix, San Francisco,
and Los Angeles (table 10). Nine <strong>CEWG</strong>
areas, all east of the Mississippi River, reported
that either no admissions, very few admissions
(Baltimore City, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Philadelphia),
or less than 1 percent of admissions
(Maryland, New York City, Boston, Maine, and
Miami/Dade County) were for primary methamphetamine
abuse (table 10). On the other hand,
six areas—Minneapolis/St. Paul, Atlanta, Texas,
Seattle, Denver, and Colorado—reported that
between 5 and 16 percent of primary treatment
admissions were for methamphetamine abuse
problems in this reporting period.
Forensic Laboratory Data on
Methamphetamine
In the first half of 2008, forensic laboratory data
for <strong>CEWG</strong> reporting areas (figure 18 and on the
map in section II, figure 12) show that methamphetamine
was the drug identified most frequently
in Honolulu (42.5 percent of total drug
items). Items containing methamphetamine were
next most frequently identified among total drug
items in Minneapolis/St. Paul (26.9 percent),
Phoenix (22.6 percent), San Diego (20.4 percent),
and Albuquerque (20.3 percent) (figure 18). In
nine of the <strong>CEWG</strong> reporting areas, less than 2
percent of the total drug items contained methamphetamine;
all were in areas east of the Mississippi
River (figure 18; appendix table 2).
Methamphetamine ranked first in drug items
identified in Honolulu; second in Atlanta, Phoenix,
and San Diego; and third in seven <strong>CEWG</strong>
areas—Minneapolis/St. Paul, Albuquerque, Denver,
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seatttle, and
Texas in this reporting period (section II, table 1).
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, <strong>January</strong> 20<strong>09</strong> 89