Be Aware

....is what my friend Scott Henson says in his blog about National Meth Awareness day, which apparently is today. Before you head out to celebrate, check out his blog, and the link he included to Drug War Rant, which provides some basic facts about meth in America today. It's the holidays, time to get up to 'speed' (sorry) on your trivia, and check it out.

A more local approach towards meth awareness can start with the 2006 Report on Substance Abuse Trends in Texas. The report covers pretty much all drugs used illegally, including legal drugs like riddalin, alcohol, and cough medicine. Of the prohibited substances, the author Jane Carlisle Maxwell tells you where the goods are coming from, what it's typically made from (incase you were looking for recipies) and what you should expect to pay for it depending on what city you happen to be visiting.

She's also got a great graph on page 13 that demonstrates how Texans are finally starting to wise up when it comes to injecting the stuff. In the late 80's, over 80% of folks here were shooting meth, while only 1% were smoking it. In 2005, we see that the number of meth users poking themselves to get off decreased to 40%, while over 50% have taken to smoking it.

While I wouldn't recommend ever touching the stuff, it's good to know that people have chosen a method of delivery that is 'safer' than injection drug use. But at the same time, given the statistics provided in the report, injection is the second most common route Texans use to take meth, and that makes for quite a lot of people out there who are in need of clean needles.