Kaiser Health News (5/7, Dembosky) reports that methamphetamine use “is surging in parts of the US, particularly the West,” but policymakers “haven’t kept up, continuing to direct the bulk of funding and attention to opioids.” According to UCLA addiction psychologist Steve Shoptaw, stories regarding methamphetamine overdoses “are very much muffled by the much louder story about the opioid epidemic” among congressional lawmakers. Deaths related to methamphetamine use in San Francisco have doubled since 2011, and the city’s meth-related emergency room visits “have jumped 600% to 1,965 visits in 2016, the last year for which ER data is available.”
Related Links:
— “Meth Vs. Opioids: America Has Two Drug Epidemics, But Focuses On One, “April Dembosky, Kaiser Health News, May 7, 2019