Meth a bigger problem than opiods in Texas
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
June 19, 2018
Responding to misplaced attention by Texas legislators and law-enforcement leaders on opiods, Grits had pointed out earlier this year that the problem with meth addiction and overdoses were actually worse. Politicians and the Texas media were responding to national stories about opiod-related overdoses and the rise of fentanyl as a recreational drug based mostly on problems in Northeastern and Midwestern states that didn't exactly apply to Texas.
Now, Todd Ackerman at the Houston Chronicle has produced the first MSM coverage I've seen acknowledging that fact. Here are the key data points from the story:
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimated the number of Americans who used meth in the past month at 667,000 in 2016, the latest year for which statistics are available. That’s up from the 2008 low point of 314,000.
At the Mexico-U.S. border, agents are seizing 10 to 20 times the amount they did a decade ago. In 2016 in Texas, DEA officials seized more than 45,000 items of meth, compared to less than 6,000 items of heroin. The lab that identifies the drugs does not provide the item’s overall weight, but a Houston DEA official said that 7.5:1 ratio is consistent with the amount of the two drugs they seize.
Deaths, too, are on the rise. Nationally, nearly 6,000 people died from meth in 2015, a 255 percent increase from 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas’ numbers are no less unsettling. In 2016, meth killed 715 people in the state, compared to heroin’s 539. Another 8,238 meth users were taken to Texas health department-funded substance abuse treatment centers, compared to 8,238 heroin users. Texas poison centers received 320 calls for help involving meth and 254 for heroin.
The Texas meth epidemic also appears intertwined with increases in sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, according to Jane Maxwell, a University of Texas-Austin drug abuse researcher. She cites a 2015 CDC survey of HIV-positive homosexual men that found 86 percent of respondents in Houston and 91 percent in Dallas reported that they’d injected meth in the past 12 months. She said a recent state report on HIV trends shows such use by homosexual men is doubling HIV risk factors.
California faces a similar dynamic to Texas because their heroin market is dominated by "black tar" heroin that's not easily mixed with fentanyl.
In recent years, drug-possession arrests have been the only growth area for Texas prosecutions. As Grits reported recently, "Texas has just gone through an era when crime declined quite a lot, and the number of case filings - except for drug cases, which accounted for 32 percent of felony charges in 2017 and 21 percent of misdemeanors (p. 26 of the pdf) - has mostly gone down with it."
3 comments:
There is a huge difference between meth addiction and opiod addiction. Most street meth is bathtub meth, cooked illegally. Most opiods are legit pharmaceutical. That means you have an evil, horrid, nasty, profit-mongering corporation to hate. That is much safer than hating the Hell's Angels.
I remember visiting Monterrey, California 10 years ago. There is a small indoor shopping center across the street from the piers and restaurants. Parking is scarce. Two Hells Angels motorcycles were parked in one space with the helmets stating Property of Hells Angels left on the seats. My wife said, "They left their helmets on their motorcycles. Somebody might steal them." I replied, "There is nothing to worry about. No one will steal those helmets."
Today in Galveston County.
SanLeonTX Arrest made after drugs found at home
On June 19, the Galveston County Sheriff's Office executed a search and arrest warrant on a home in San Leon.
The arrest warrant was for 48-year-old Tommy Williams who had been under a month long investigation by Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Special Crimes Unit and Tactical Response Team.
Deputies found 3.4 ounces of methamphetamine (97.6grams), as well as a digital scale and packaging materials.
During the search warrant another person was at the location.
38-year-old Christopher Blackburn was also at the house and later released with no charges.
Tommy Williams was taken into custody and charged with Manufacture and Delivery of a Controlled Substance which is a felony.
Bond has been set at $250,000.
Tommy Williams is a convicted Felon, documented Gang Member, and on parole with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice until 2027.
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