At the June meeting, CEWG members reported on drug abuse trends in their areas.
Highlights from each area are listed below.
Atlanta: Large-scale production and distribution of methamphetamine continues, and the number and demographic diversity of users are increasing.
Baltimore: In the metropolitan area, indicators of both heroin and cocaine abuse are up.
Boston: Heroin now rivals cocaine as the street drug of choice.
Chicago: Ecstasy (MDMA) continues to be the most frequently identified stimulant, with emergency room mentions increasing more than tenfold between 1995 and 1999.
Denver: Almost all ethnographic reports indicate the availability of very potent marijuana.
Detroit/Wayne County: Heroin deaths increased by 23 percent in 2000 over 1999. Ketamine remains a target of veterinarian office break-ins.
Honolulu: Law enforcement officials seized a significant amount of powdered heroin and Hawaii had its first reported death associated with MDMA.
Los Angeles: Methamphetamine production and trafficking continue to expand and the use of club drugs such as ecstasy has rapidly become one of Southern California’s most significant law enforcement challenges.
Miami/S. Florida: Oxycodone (OxyContin) abuse appears to be skyrocketing, based on reported South Florida deaths and emergency room data.
Minneapolis/St. Paul: One of five people entering addiction treatment programs reported marijuana as the primary substance problem.
Newark: In the first half of 2000, heroin accounted for 77 percent of all admissions to drug treatment programs.
New Orleans: Crack, heroin, and marijuana remained the drugs of choice in 2000.
New York City: Ecstasy is widely available throughout the city, on the street as well as at dance clubs.
Philadelphia: In the second half of 2000, the number of individuals who died using illicit drugs–as reported by medical examiners and hospital emergency rooms–was higher than in any other half-year period on record.
Phoenix: Methamphetamine-related deaths increased 26 percent from 1999 to 2000.
St. Louis: Heroin and methamphetamine are increasingly prominent.
San Diego: Among arrestees, 67 percent of males, 47 percent of females, and 67 percent of juveniles tested positive for at least one drug.
San Francisco: Heroin is used more than ever and is cheaper than ever.
Seattle/King County: The use of club drugs appears to be widespread, not only in the dance party and club scenes, but in other recreational and social settings as well.
Texas: Ecstasy treatment admissions and exposures confirmed by poison control centers are up.
Washington, D.C.: High-dose oxycodone has become a popular illicit drug in the suburbs.