KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Meth Now Has More Users than Other Drugs Combined

Meth Now Has More Users than Other Drugs Combined

   Though we can't show you her face, "Mary" is the face of meth---a young woman, who's been using for most of her adult life. She's just over a month clean. 
   "I mean it's one thing to live it's another thing to exist, and that's all I was doing," says Mary
      A new study by the National Association of Counties says meth is not only "on the rise", but it is the most used drug in America, with more users now than heroin, pot and coke combined. The study focused on 500 counties in 44 states. "Mary" says she's seen that first hand--and she's quick to put the Ark-La-Tex right in the findings.
   "You'd be surprised how many people in your neighborhood are probably just using. It would amaze you. It doesn't matter who it is once you do it you do it," she says. 
   And meth is no longer discriminating - Steps detox director Bill Rose says one group is hitting it hard.
  "I would say a good 60 to 70 percent of meth admissions to this facility are female," says Rose. 
   However, in the middle of the fight, there might be a shining light. Local narcotics officers say meth use might be worse that ever but a big part of the problem is down.
   "We go to less meth labs. We find less meth labs," says SPD's Sgt. Childers. He says the crackdown on over the counter meds, such as sudafed, helps. In the Ark-La-Tex, and many other states, the cold medicine that is used to make meth has many new regulations. But mary says all that could just be temporary. It didn't always stop her.
   "We were going to get it or we were going to pay other people to get it. That's usually what we did. We paid other people to buy it," says Mary.