Meth Statistics

Methamphetamine, also known as "meth", is a highly addictive psychoactive stimulant drug that has a very high rate of abuse. Meth abuse can cause the user to experience devastating medical, psychological and social consequences. Some of the adverse health effects that chronic meth users experience include memory loss, aggression, psychotic behavior, heart damage, malnutrition and severe dental problems. Meth statistics show that methamphetamine abuse also contributes to increased transmission of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, and increases in crime, unemployment, child neglect or abuse, as well as other social ills.

National meth statistics point to a significant economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States. A recent report estimated the national cost of Meth abuse is $23.4 billion. This 2005 study represented the first comprehensive assessment which analyzed these economic costs on a national scale. The study also found that methamphetamine abuse poses a significant burden on both individuals and society in money spent on treatment, healthcare, and foster care services, as well as the costs of crime and lost productivity associated with meth. These meth statistics show that the $23.4 billion in annual costs translates into $26,614 for each person who used methamphetamine in the past year or $73,692 for each meth dependent user.

Meth statistics also show that meth abuse results in significant costs to the criminal justice system. Criminal justice costs associated with enforcing meth laws are alarming, and cost an estimated $4.2 billion annually. In 2005 for example, a survey of law enforcement officials from 45 states reported that meth-induced crime was increasing, and more than half reported that meth was their county's greatest drug problem. A follow-up survey in 2007 reported that meth is still the number one drug problem and this produced the following meth statistics:

• 47% of county Sheriffs report that meth abuse is the biggest drug problem, even more than cocaine (21%) and marijuana (22%) combined.
• 55% of county Sheriffs report increases in the number of robberies and burglaries during the last year.

As of 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Threat Assessment confirmed in their report that an overwhelming percentage (68%) of state and local agencies in the 20 Western states perceive meth as their greatest drug threat. Only 19% perceived cocaine as their top threat.

Statistics on emergency department admissions estimate that there were an estimated 108 million emergency department admissions in the U.S. during 2005. The Drug Abuse Warning Network reported that 1,449,154 of these visits were related with drug misuse or abuse. DAWN data shows that meth was involved in 108,905 of the drug-related ED admissions.

Meth statistics show the number of admissions to treatment between 1995 and 2005, in which methamphetamine was the principal drug of abuse, increased from 47,695 in 1995 to 152,368 in 2005. The methamphetamine admissions account for 2.8% of the total drug/alcohol admissions to treatment in the year 1995 and 8.2% of the treatment admissions in the year 2005. The median age of the individuals admitted to treatment for methamphetamine/amphetamine addiction in 2005 was 31 years.