Highly addictive, widely available, and cheap, methamphetamine (meth) is an illegal drug commonly used in the United States. Meth production and distribution methods have evolved since the late 1990s and early 2000s, making it an ongoing threat to people and communities all over the country. This document offers facts about meth and the people who use it, as well as its human and environmental costs. The good news is that treatment for meth use disorder works, and recovery is possible.
Methamphetamine is an illicit stimulant that has become cheap and accessible in the United States. According to research from Millennium Health, Arkansas leads the nation in methamphetamine use. In Arkansas, methamphetamine presents as great a problem as opioids, and law enforcement is seeing methamphetamine cut with fentanyl.
In the past decade, the chemical makeup of meth has changed. Methamphetamines today are not the same as methamphetamines ten years ago. Production has transformed, creating a more potent drug that can quickly lead to psychosis.
As a campaign for the Department of Adult, Aging, and Behavior Studies in partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s MidSOUTH, Me Over Meth offers drug education, prevention resources, and support for communities across Arkansas. Undoing methamphetamine substance use in Arkansas will take a community effort, and it is time for Arkansans to step up.
